Ok this may outrage some folks and insinuate fire inside...
Separated by chapter:
Setting:
At Santa Monica College, I was the student-elected Director of Budget Mngt of the student government organization Associated Students of Santa Monica College (ASSMC). I was also an active member of Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society (AGS) and Chinese Christian Fellowship (CCF), among others. I attended the AGS conference, fulfilled over 100 hours of community service, earned the President's Award, and am a committee member. For CCF, I attended and volunteered in various club activities including hikes, fellowships, outings, meetings, retreats, etc. Although I finished my one-year term as director a couple weeks ago, I have been club member for two years since I began attending college. This particular dean is the advisor to ASSMC, with her office inside the ASSMC's offices. Each semester, students voluntarily pay $10 into the ASSMC fund, which is then allocated to all the clubs for various purposes, each purpose requiring approval from the ASSMC board.
Scholarship:
The club scholarship were developed by the Director of Financial Support, who encouraged clubs to donate a portion of their allocation into creating club scholarships for outstanding club members. As an incentive, the ASSMC board passed a $10,000 matching fund for club scholarships created. In response, several clubs including AGS and CCF, donated a portion of their allocations with amounts ranging from $100 to $500, including the match funds. The dean then ordered the Director of Financial Support to formulate rules and minimum requirements for all the club scholarships. A Scholarship Committee of faculty members was formed to determine who would get the scholarships and who wouldn't, based on the merit, need, and the requirements. This was the first year club scholarships has ever been done.
Approval
The ASSMC board, including me, voted unanimously in favor of the creation of these club scholarships, with the idea that this will reward outstanding club members as well as encouraging others to join the club and to be involved.
Applying
Having great involvement with the clubs, I decided later on that I would apply to get the scholarships. I made sure that I met all of the requirements and made sure I submitted all that they requested, including letter of recommendation, questions as to my involvement and academics, and the personal statement essay. I even had my application painstakingly type-written while others were hand-written.
Winning
Later on, I got word that I had won two scholarships from AGS (out of 10 total) and CCF (out of 2 total). Total prize: $350. However, it is much more than the money that matters; it's the image and the pride that these scholarships bring. A long list of winners were posted in the ASSMC offices and the winners congratulated. The Scholarship Committee has spoken!
Check
When it came time to sign the requisitions in order to cut the checks, the dean refused to sign, claiming that she intended for the scholarships to not be for Directors (student leaders) regardless of how much work they did for the clubs as members. That intention was never conveyed in any way, shape, form, or fashion; neither verbal, written, nor non-verbal, not discussed with the Director of Financial Support or the Board of Directors. Even though the Scholarship Committee, which decides who gets it and who doesn't, decided to give me the scholarship, the dean refused.
Meeting
I brought up the issue with the Director of Financial Support (DFS), the creator of the club scholarships, and he was enraged. The dean's conduct in this manner was probably in retribution for my disapproval of her past conduct in mismanaging student funds for a friend's baby shower, as well as my dissatisfaction with her dictatorial conduct in general of the supposedly independent ASSMC. With the DFS, we both argued with the dean regarding the scholarship issue. The dean simply stubbornly refused to sign and kept checking her email at the computer during the argument, disrespecting me and worse, the DFS. At one point, I pointed out that her position is simply an advisor, one who gives advice, not one who dictates the wishes of the "student-run" organization. In response, she told us that she's the final decision maker of the ASSMC as an administrator and that everything is up to her. "Where does it say that?" replied the DFS. Infuriated, she looked around for a brief while and pointed at me, saying "YOU know where it is."
No ma'am, I do not because nowhere does it say that.
She went on to say that club scholarships will never be done ever again and that it was the worst decision ever to even have them, even though many of the faculty had earlier congratulated the DFS about how the club scholarships were the best idea ASSMC came up with.
Administrators
After informing AGS and CCF of what was going on, we brought the issue up to the president of the college. She had a meeting with the dean and, having tried unsuccessfully to change the dean's mind, said it wasn't up to the president of the college and that it's up to the dean.
Building a Case
It is unfair to change the rules after the fact. The notion of "Conflict of Interest" also does not apply because I didn't intend to pursue the scholarship when I voted in favor of them. That and we had voted on a separate issue to giving directors small scholarships at the end of their terms, as it was traditionally done since directors would otherwise get nothing at the end of their terms of servitude. It would be inconsistent to invoke the "Conflict of Interest" if director scholarships weren't conflicts of interest. A friend consulted a lawyer about this matter and told me that this was a tortious interference with a contract (the scholarship) to pay the applicant the award if a third party, the Scholarship Committee, approves. She also told me that the college, AGS, CCF, and the dean could be held liable for punitive damages and breach of contract.
Lawsuit
This chapter hasn't been written yet as it has not begun. Any tips, insights on how to go about this case in the courtrooms since multiple negotiations have failed and there are no other alternatives?
For me, this is about the principle of things, the right and wrong, whether it be $1, $350, or $5,000. How much money does it take for this sort of action to become wrong?
Update:
To add insult to injury, I later found out that the official list of winners sent by the Scholarship Committee had a white-out over my name, after our discussion with the dean.
Separated by chapter:
Setting:
At Santa Monica College, I was the student-elected Director of Budget Mngt of the student government organization Associated Students of Santa Monica College (ASSMC). I was also an active member of Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society (AGS) and Chinese Christian Fellowship (CCF), among others. I attended the AGS conference, fulfilled over 100 hours of community service, earned the President's Award, and am a committee member. For CCF, I attended and volunteered in various club activities including hikes, fellowships, outings, meetings, retreats, etc. Although I finished my one-year term as director a couple weeks ago, I have been club member for two years since I began attending college. This particular dean is the advisor to ASSMC, with her office inside the ASSMC's offices. Each semester, students voluntarily pay $10 into the ASSMC fund, which is then allocated to all the clubs for various purposes, each purpose requiring approval from the ASSMC board.
Scholarship:
The club scholarship were developed by the Director of Financial Support, who encouraged clubs to donate a portion of their allocation into creating club scholarships for outstanding club members. As an incentive, the ASSMC board passed a $10,000 matching fund for club scholarships created. In response, several clubs including AGS and CCF, donated a portion of their allocations with amounts ranging from $100 to $500, including the match funds. The dean then ordered the Director of Financial Support to formulate rules and minimum requirements for all the club scholarships. A Scholarship Committee of faculty members was formed to determine who would get the scholarships and who wouldn't, based on the merit, need, and the requirements. This was the first year club scholarships has ever been done.
Approval
The ASSMC board, including me, voted unanimously in favor of the creation of these club scholarships, with the idea that this will reward outstanding club members as well as encouraging others to join the club and to be involved.
Applying
Having great involvement with the clubs, I decided later on that I would apply to get the scholarships. I made sure that I met all of the requirements and made sure I submitted all that they requested, including letter of recommendation, questions as to my involvement and academics, and the personal statement essay. I even had my application painstakingly type-written while others were hand-written.
Winning
Later on, I got word that I had won two scholarships from AGS (out of 10 total) and CCF (out of 2 total). Total prize: $350. However, it is much more than the money that matters; it's the image and the pride that these scholarships bring. A long list of winners were posted in the ASSMC offices and the winners congratulated. The Scholarship Committee has spoken!
Check
When it came time to sign the requisitions in order to cut the checks, the dean refused to sign, claiming that she intended for the scholarships to not be for Directors (student leaders) regardless of how much work they did for the clubs as members. That intention was never conveyed in any way, shape, form, or fashion; neither verbal, written, nor non-verbal, not discussed with the Director of Financial Support or the Board of Directors. Even though the Scholarship Committee, which decides who gets it and who doesn't, decided to give me the scholarship, the dean refused.
Meeting
I brought up the issue with the Director of Financial Support (DFS), the creator of the club scholarships, and he was enraged. The dean's conduct in this manner was probably in retribution for my disapproval of her past conduct in mismanaging student funds for a friend's baby shower, as well as my dissatisfaction with her dictatorial conduct in general of the supposedly independent ASSMC. With the DFS, we both argued with the dean regarding the scholarship issue. The dean simply stubbornly refused to sign and kept checking her email at the computer during the argument, disrespecting me and worse, the DFS. At one point, I pointed out that her position is simply an advisor, one who gives advice, not one who dictates the wishes of the "student-run" organization. In response, she told us that she's the final decision maker of the ASSMC as an administrator and that everything is up to her. "Where does it say that?" replied the DFS. Infuriated, she looked around for a brief while and pointed at me, saying "YOU know where it is."
No ma'am, I do not because nowhere does it say that.
She went on to say that club scholarships will never be done ever again and that it was the worst decision ever to even have them, even though many of the faculty had earlier congratulated the DFS about how the club scholarships were the best idea ASSMC came up with.
Administrators
After informing AGS and CCF of what was going on, we brought the issue up to the president of the college. She had a meeting with the dean and, having tried unsuccessfully to change the dean's mind, said it wasn't up to the president of the college and that it's up to the dean.
Building a Case
It is unfair to change the rules after the fact. The notion of "Conflict of Interest" also does not apply because I didn't intend to pursue the scholarship when I voted in favor of them. That and we had voted on a separate issue to giving directors small scholarships at the end of their terms, as it was traditionally done since directors would otherwise get nothing at the end of their terms of servitude. It would be inconsistent to invoke the "Conflict of Interest" if director scholarships weren't conflicts of interest. A friend consulted a lawyer about this matter and told me that this was a tortious interference with a contract (the scholarship) to pay the applicant the award if a third party, the Scholarship Committee, approves. She also told me that the college, AGS, CCF, and the dean could be held liable for punitive damages and breach of contract.
Lawsuit
This chapter hasn't been written yet as it has not begun. Any tips, insights on how to go about this case in the courtrooms since multiple negotiations have failed and there are no other alternatives?
For me, this is about the principle of things, the right and wrong, whether it be $1, $350, or $5,000. How much money does it take for this sort of action to become wrong?
Update:
To add insult to injury, I later found out that the official list of winners sent by the Scholarship Committee had a white-out over my name, after our discussion with the dean.
...good luck, i hope to see your story in the papers soon enough 
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