Former Students Sue the New School

According to 40 former students of the New School in Manhattan, a diploma by another name is not as valuable.

The plaintiffs, all native New Yorkers who enrolled in the former Actors Studio Drama School in 2004 and 2005, filed a complaint in state Supreme Court yesterday, claiming that the school's 2005 renaming to "The New School for Drama" represented a breach of contract.

In the lawsuit, the former students claim they lost the prestige of association with the Actors Studio when the contract between studio and school expired and was not renewed. They say the school acted fraudulently by converting the program to the "unknown" New School for Drama without warning.

The students request compensation for living and relocation expenses as a result of moving to the school under false pretenses.

The director of communications for the New School, Caroline Oyama, said the school hasn't seen the new suit, but maintains that previous similar claims are without merit.

Film director Elia Kazan founded the Actors Studio in Midtown in 1947. The studio partnered with the New School in 1995.

The suit reprises a 2005 federal complaint filed by 40 out-of-state students, still pending a ruling.