SILVIA OAKLAND, TRUMPET EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
A class-action lawsuit was filed March 15 in Bremer County, seeking a refund for tuition and other fees from Wartburg College for the campus shutdown in spring 2020, court documents state.
Sydney Warner, fourth-year music major and plaintiff, has asked for tuition and other fees to be refunded after the pandemic closed the college in March 2020.
Wartburg College declined to comment on any pending litigation.
Wartburg announced it was sending home students and converting classes to online on March 14, 2020. The college’s faculty shifted to teaching virtually and students hastily packed up dorm rooms and headed home as the pandemic began.
Students chafed at the change and said it wasn’t fair to pay full tuition, which is $55,272 for the 2020-21 academic year and includes room and board, according to wartburg.edu.
“We’re only looking at cases that we think are viable and that we think can be successful and make a difference for the students,” Bart Goplerud, attorney working on the case, told KWWL News.
According to KWWL, the case against Wartburg is different to the others across the country. Lawsuits across the country have been dismissed because they are focused on the quality of education the students received during the remote learning portion of the academic year.
Wartburg has offered a free fifth year to students affected in 2020. A full story will be in the April 6 issue of the Trumpet.
Knight Wire 
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