A University alumna who recently won a small claims grade dispute lawsuit against her former instructor faces a difficult legal challenge during an upcoming appellate arbitration hearing, experts say.

On June 30, Kathleen O'Connor was awarded, by default, $4,000 from a breach of contract civil complaint against instructor Lorna Rasmussen. The University's counsel, representing Rasmussen, failed to attend a hearing in the office of District Justice Clifford Yorks. The defense appealed the case July 5 to the Centre County Court of Common Pleas.

The communications graduate, in a telephone interview from her Pottstown residence, said she plans to respond to the appeal and bring her case before a court arbitration panel -- a process mandatory in suits involving less than $10,000.

If O'Connor wins, it will be as uncommon as the court case itself, several legal experts said.

"The courts don't wish to insert themselves in the grading procedure," said Donald Suit, director of the University's office of conduct standards. "Just a grade by itself they rarely intervene with."

The plaintiff contends she wrongly received a D grade in Rasmussen's Communications 481 class, "TV Programming and Performance" held during the spring 1988 semester. O'Connor said the grade prevented her from graduating on time. She added that she took the class again last fall from a different instructor and received an A, enabling her to receive her diploma in January.

Although O'Connor said she has a strong case to convince arbitrators to rule in her favor, legal authorities disagree.

"As a matter of law, the courts give great deference to academic decisions by university faculty or administrators," said Lewis M. Popper, head counsel at the University of Pittsburgh.

Courts seem hesitant to question an instructor's academic judgment because they are not qualified to determine a grade's fairness, Popper explained, adding that a grade is private issue between professor and student.

But he said courts do not hear many grade appeal cases.

"These (cases) at Pitt don't get into litigation," Popper said, adding that Pitt probably has never been sued over a grade dispute. "It's rare for any kind of academic dispute to get to the court."

O'Connor said she failed to get the grade changed despite several attempts at working within University channels between May of 1988 and April.

In March, O'Connor made her plea before the School of Communications's adjudication committee called a "Good Offices' Panel," but the six-person group recommended the D grade stand.

"The (adjudication) committee is based on helping the teacher and not the student," the plaintiff claimed. The committee is composed of three students and three faculty members and is chaired by a student council officer.

O'Connor, after a last try at asking communications school dean Brian Winston to intervene, said she decided to sue Rasmussen in April.

Jerry Covert, the University's acting dean for undergraduate programs, said he consulted with O'Connor before she filed suit, but the matter could not be resolved.

"The grade adjudication process (here) is very thorough," Covert said. "There is usually resolution." He also cited the extraordinary nature of a court determining a grade change.

Mark Faulkner, an attorney with the State College firm that has represented the University in all legal matters since the early 1900s, said he knows of just two or three grade dispute cases tried during the last 14 years.

"It's not a common occurrence," said the partner of McQuaide, Blasko, Schwartz, Fleming and Faulkner, 811 University Drive.

Nearly all grade disputes here are settled within the University system, Faulkner said.

At Pitt, there is no adjudication forum for students with grade inquiries not involving academic honesty or integrity, Popper said.

Each school in the Pitt system requires students with academic integrity suits to file a form that requests a special hearing, said Maryann Thomas, Pitt's communications representative. These claims at Penn State are handled by the office of conduct standards, Suit said.

Covert said all recent grade dispute cases at the University, involving academic integrity or otherwise, were settled internally -- O'Connor's case being an uncommon exception to the rule.

The dean said he expects the arbitrators to follow precedent and decide for the University.

If the three-member arbitration panel rules against the plaintiff, she has the option of appealing to the state's appellate court, Faulkner said.

O'Connor said she plans to use all possible appeals until she wins the suit.