No Preliminary Injunction for Yale MBA Student Suing Over Discipline for Alleged Use of AI on Exam

Thierry Rignol is an entrepreneur and investor who enrolled as a part-time graduate student at Yale School of Management in 2023 as a member of the class of 2025 .

After a teaching assistant flagged one of his exams in the spring of 2024 , administrators conducted an investigation to determine whether he violated examination rules by using generative artificial intelligence.

SOM penalized him by issuing him an F in the course and suspending him from classes for one year .

He sought a preliminary injunction that would reinstate him as a student in good standing.

Rignol says he will be forced to explain why it took him three years instead of two to complete his EMBA .

He says Yale 's process was flawed in various ways, but the judge concluded that he couldn't show irreparable harm.

The Second Circuit has held that a delayed graduation alone does not constitute irreparable.

Rignol has not demonstrated that his career will be irreparably marked by continuing to serve the suspension.

He says the suspension diminishes his earnings, those lost earnings can be quantified and remedied with money damages.

He also says immigration consequences are too speculative to entitle him to a preliminary injunction.