EDUARDO C. ROBRENO, District Judge.
Presently before the Court is Defendant University of Delaware's motion for summary judgment. For the reasons that follow, the Court will grant the motion.
Plaintiff, a Chinese citizen, enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Delaware. After three semesters (from summer 2014 through spring 2015) during which Plaintiff did not maintain the minimum required 2.0 GPA, the University expelled him for failing to meet its academic requirements. Plaintiff asserts that his F-1 student visa required him to take nine credits per semester while other students who did not have a student visa were only required to take three to six credits by the University. Plaintiff claims that he was unable to complete his coursework because the government's requirement that he take nine credits was too burdensome, and the University was unwilling to provide him adequate assistance. As a result, Plaintiff claims that the University: (1) discriminated against him on the basis of his national origin in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 2000d; (2) breached its contract with him; (3) was unjustly enriched; and (4) committed fraud.
1. Summary judgment should be granted when there is no genuine dispute of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). A dispute of fact is genuine when no reasonable jury could come to the opposite conclusion.
2. In order to succeed in his discrimination claim, Plaintiff must first make out a prima facie claim for national origin discrimination. To do this, Plaintiff must establish that: (1) he was a member of a protected class; (2) he was qualified to continue the pursuit of his education; (3) he was treated differently than similarly situated students who were not members of the protected class; and (4) he suffered an adverse action.
3. Plaintiff contends that, as part of the University's efforts to help him to make up his missing assignments and improve his grades, it entered into a contract with him promising to change his grades whenever he completed the missing work. Plaintiff has failed to establish a breach of contract. He alleges that the contract is embodied in a document entitled "Agreement for Xu (George) Feng." ECF No. 27-1, p. 45. This unsigned document provides that one of his professors was "willing to support his request" to be reinstated in the program if he: (1) contacted his professors in the three fall 2014 courses that he did not complete and requested permission to complete the missing assignments; (2) inquired about a late withdrawal from his Museum Studies course; (3) took two courses in the spring 2015 semester; and (4) met weekly with two of his professors to update them on the progress of his missing fall and spring coursework.
First, the evidence shows that Plaintiff did not meet the terms of the agreement nor did he submit his missing work until December 2015, long after he had been expelled from the program. Second, even if Plaintiff had met the terms of the agreement (and even if the agreement was a contract, which is debatable), the agreement was not for reinstatement but merely for one professor to support his request for reinstatement. As a result, Plaintiff's breach of contract claim fails.
4. Plaintiff contends that the University was unjustly enriched because it took his tuition but did not give him a degree. Plaintiff is incorrect. Unjust enrichment requires a showing of: (1) an enrichment; (2) an impoverishment; (3) a relation between the enrichment and impoverishment; (4) the absence of justification; and (5) the absence of a remedy provided by law.
5. Plaintiff contends that the University committed fraud in that it falsely told him he would be given additional time to complete his fall 2014 coursework and that the University "never had any intention of allowing Plaintiff to remain in the program past the Spring 2015 term." Common law fraud requires a plaintiff to show: (1) the existence of a false representation made by the defendant; (2) the defendant knew or believed the representation was false, or was indifferent to the truth; (3) the defendant intended to induce the plaintiff to act; (4) the plaintiff acted in justifiable reliance on the representation; and (5) the plaintiff suffered damages as a result.
6. For these reasons, the Court will grant the University's motion for summary judgment.
An appropriate order follows.