ACADEMIC RHUBARB. Flunked Student Sues NU Professor is the headline (may require registration.) The story strikes me as a test of power gone wrong. Student attempts to make a case for a better grade, professor stands his ground, student persists. The story does not provide sufficient information on how that conversation, which is common enough around the university, turned into a change of grade. The lawsuit alleges non-use of Northwestern's internal procedures for dealing with academic misconduct. Those procedures are there to protect the faculty as well as the students.