SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A group of Golden Gate University law students and the university's alumni association filed a lawsuit accusing the university and its president of unlawful business practices that have resulted in the planned discontinuation of Golden Gate's Juris Doctor program.
The students said in a complaint filed Wednesday in California Superior Court in San Francisco that Golden Gate President David Fike caused the closure of the program by taking out $60 million in loans in 2019, committing to what they said were untested online law degree programs while offering free tuitions to all incoming law students in 2022.
Fike, they claim, "knew or should have known that if the university and the law school began operating two new, untested degree programs, at the same time as making these other changes, there was no likelihood that the university would be solvent enough to pay back the loans."
Representatives of the San Francisco-based university didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit after regular business hours.
The university said in November 2023 that its board of trustees had voted to discontinue its American Bar Association-accredited JD degree and offer a teach-out option to current JD students. According to the school's statement at the time, the decision applied to one program only and the law school would continue to offer degrees at the graduate and undergraduate levels.
"It is simply astonishing that a university could promote free tuition for its students and then run out of money before those students finish their degree. The fact that this occurred speaks to the serious leadership issues at the university," the law students said in their complaint.
The students target what they called Fike's "poor leadership and a lack of transparency" as a major factor for law school's shutdown.
"Although Fike has been given multiple opportunities to provide financial information detailing the true extent of the Law School’s deficit, he has routinely declined to do so, opting for a 'smoke and mirrors' approach to direct questioning," they claim.
The students accuse the university and Fike of breach of contract, promissory estoppel, breach of fiduciary duty and constructive fraud, among other claims. They also seek an injunction to prevent the university from shutting down the program, as well as unspecified damages and attorney's fees.
Several of the plaintiffs, represented by Ryan Griffith Law in San Francisco, were a part of the university's "JD Flex" program, which incorporated more online opportunities for off-campus students. The plaintiffs say that the announcement of the law school's closure came out of no where and Golden Gate did not clearly provide a path for their continued education.
The Golden Gate Law School, once ranked among the top for most diverse law schools, is slated to end at the end of the 2024 school year. The university's other programs, including their Masters of Laws and Doctor of Juridical Science programs, will continue to be offered.
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