The BC Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal from Cynthia Maughan, who alleged discrimination in a UBC classroom in November 2002.

Maughan sued UBC after she unsuccessfully appealed a B-minus she received in English professor Lorraine Weir’s transgressive literature class.

Maughan alleged Weir was discriminating against her as a Christian since her absence from class on a Sunday affected her final mark, despite her stated objection to meeting on a religious holiday.

She sought for $18 million in damages from the university and for her mark to be raised from 73 to 79 per cent.

Gernot Wieland, head of UBC’s English Department, admitted that members of the department used inappropriate language when dealing with Maughan. “[The incident has] made us more aware that there are certain limits and we have to be a little more careful in our language,” he said.

However, the court upheld a January 2008 BC Supreme Court ruling that there was no evidence that this disharmony was attributable to religious discrimination on the part of Weir or the UBC English department.

—Sarah Chung