13-Year-Old Prodigy Cries Discrimination After University Denied Him Ecology Class

March 12, 2010 — -- He may be young but Colin Carlson said he is no stranger to discrimination.

Carlson, a gifted child, was at age 12 turned away from his dream school, Connecticut College, amid concerns that he was too young for a dormitory, even though he agreed to live off campus with his mother.

Now, more than a year later, 13-year-old Carlson said he has faced trouble again at the University of Connecticut, where he maintains a 3.9 GPA as a double-degree candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology, and in environmental studies.

The university barred his entry into an African field ecology class that required a three-week trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, because the professor thought Carlson was too young for the journey, Carlson and his mother, Jessica Offir, said.

Offir had intended to accompany her son on the trip at her own expense to make "the university more comfortable," she said.

Denying her son enrollment in the class was a violation of state and federal law and of the university's own anti-discrimination policy, Offir said.

"To base your opinion of a person on his age is no different than to base it on their sex, religion, race or group membership," she said.

University of Connecticut spokesman Michael Kirk declined to be interviewed but said in a written statement, "The university doesn't comment on pending claims or litigation. Speaking generally, when it comes to study-abroad programs, student safety is our first concern."

The trouble began in November when Carlson was not admitted to a class that he said had been promised to him prior to his admission to UConn, said Offir, who has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

"He applied for the course that he had his eye on before he matriculated and that we'd mentioned by name to the administrators as something he wanted to do," Offir said.