HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Professor claims NYU fired him after he gave James Franco a ‘D.’ “Santana, who is suing NYU in Manhattan Supreme Court for his job back, asserts that Franco, whose career took off after a 2001 portrayal of James Dean, acted like a rebel without a clue in his other courses, too, blowing off just as many classes. But the star’s other professors at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts still gave him good grades, Santana said. Big names such as Franco’s typically translate into big bucks for universities.”