Gabor Lukacs believes the University of Manitoba should have offered a modified exam to a student who claimed to be suffering from exam anxiety, rather than award the PhD after the student failed a key exam. (University of Manitoba)

A judge in Winnipeg has reserved decision in the case of a math professor who is challenging the granting of a PhD to a student who suffers from exam anxiety.

The case pits the University of Manitoba against Gabor Lukacs, who is upset that the university granted the PhD to a student who failed a key exam twice, and later claimed to suffer from exam anxiety.

Lukacs is asking the Court of Queen's Bench to revoke the degree.

Lukacs's lawyer warned in court on Thursday that the university is risking its academic reputation and could be seen as a diploma mill.

The university, however, is asking the court to dismiss Lukacs's complaint.

The school's lawyer, Jamie Kagan, said Lukacs is a "busybody" with no legal right to challenge the degree, because he wasn't the student's professor.

The student has an otherwise brilliant academic record, and Kagan insisted that exam anxiety is a recognized disability.

University defends waiving exam

The U of M said it accommodated the student by waiving the exam and acknowledging the student's other merits.

But Lukacs said that's not accommodation.

"Accommodation means if you have vision problems, you get a reader. If you have problems writing, you get a script," he said.

A modified exam should have been offered, Lukacs suggested.

"Your exam can be divided into two or three parts, smaller bits, all that is perfectly fine. But you still need, in some ways, to prove that you know what everybody in a particular program is supposed to know."

Justice Deborah McCawley on Thursday gave no indication as to when she might render her decision.