A row has broken out between City University and a visiting Fellow from America who accused the university of altering students' grades and firing him without cause. Cody Fuston wrote an open letter to students which was published on the City University Secrets Facebook page.
City University has has denied Fuston's claims that the Department of English secretly marked down students’ academic results without students’ knowledge or professors’ consent.
Fuston, who is also a novelist, informed students in a letter that his contract had been terminated on Tuesday. The letter went viral when it was posted on the CityU Secrets Facebook page the following day. Fuston described this lowering of students’ grades as “corruption”, and advised them to keep records of the grades their lecturers had given them.
A CityU spokesperson told Young Post that Fuston had been fired because he had refused to submit students’ grades to the English Department unless his demand for a pay rise was approved. The spokesman said this behaviour “constituted a serious breach of his employment contract”. The spokesperson also said that his accusation about secretly changing students’ grades was “without foundation”.
Fuston told Young Post that he had not resigned and abandoned his students. He also said he hadn’t received any verbal or written warning prior to the termination of his contract. He said he was stressed and shocked at what CityU has done to him, but he had written his open letter about the grades to protect students’ interests.