For Annabel Osberg, it sucks to be 19, and not because fake ID’s are so damn expensive. For the past few weeks, we’ve been covering the story of this art prodigy’s expulsion from Yale’s MFA program. When we last checked in with ProdigyGate, Osberg had just filed a lawsuit against the University, claiming that she was unfairly expelled without proper warning from the Master of Fine Arts program in Painting and Printmaking. According to an article in this week’s Yale Daily News, University officials say there is “no merit” to Osberg’s allegations that Yale considers her “too immature and too young” to receive this terminal degree, despite knowing her age when they accepted her.

Per the YDN, University Spokesman Tom Conroy says that the decision to expel Osbery did not violate any protocols whatsoever. “The Yale School of Art assesses the academic progress of its students carefully and followed its procedures in all respects in making its decision not to promote Annabel Osberg to the second year of the MFA program,” Conroy told the YDN. “We believe that Ms. Osberg's claims have no merit.”

Osberg’s lawyer hopes to get a hearing on the injunction in late August or early September; Yale has until August 12 to respond to Osberg’s complaint.

Meanwhile, here at IvyGate, we’ve taken matters into our own hands and sat down for an exclusive interview with Annabel Osberg (formerly Y-ART’09) to discuss all this hullabaloo. Read the interview after the jump:

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When child art prodigy Annabel Osberg told the television last week that she was going to take Yale to court for kicking her out of its MFA program, few believed her. Hopefully, this will be the last time anyone underestimates the young painting whiz, who has found a lawyer and politely informed everyone that she is quite serious about this whole suing thing.

In the recently filed lawsuit, a copy of which has been provided by her lawyer here, Osberg reveals a few details of how she got the boot, but nothing yet that offers an explanation to this mystery.

On or about July 7, 2008, the defendant locked the plaintiff out of the studio she was renting from the defendant and thereafter locked her out of the residence she was renting from the defendant ... As a result, the plaintiff has suffered ascertainable economic losses and emotional distress.

Rough, but last I heard, schools don't usually make a habit of locking students out of their rooms just to be a bitch. Osberg wants $15,000 (about 0.00006% of Yale's endowment) and to be re-admitted into the program, but that looks doubtful. Any Yale MFAs still reading IvyGate these days? Send us the full version of this story.

She may not be old enough for an MFA, but she is old enough to know how to start a media storm.

On Tuesday, we brought you the story of Annabel Osberg, the 19-year-old painting star who convinced Yale to let her into their MFA program -- only to kick her out a year later for having demonstrably failed to, um, age at a fast enough rate. There is clearly something else going on, but Yale isn't commenting on the matter. (The poor public affairs people at the school apparently haven't figured out that trying to clamp down on a hot art-student scandal is a losing strategy.)

In this exclusive interview with WTNH-TV in New Haven, Osberg's got just five words for her former school: I'll see you in court.

In a story sure to provoke equal parts sympathy and schadenfreude among the Wes Anderson loving, art-school rejected smart set, the New Haven Register is reporting that Annabel Osberg, a 19 year old painting prodigy, has been dismissed from Yale's prestigious graduate program in art.

Osberg, who has the looks and skill set of Margot and Richie Tenenbaum's (adopted!) incestuous love affair, graduated from California State University at San Bernadino at age 18 and spent a year in the Yale MFA program before being dropped for an apparent lack of maturity. Apparently, someone realized that the TEENAGER in the YALE GRADUATE PROGRAM was immature only AFTER collecting her $52,000 for the year. They do say money changes people.

Osberg sounds surprised that the teachers and administrators at Yale are unfeeling bastards:

"In my previous educational experience, the teachers (at Cal State) were very helpful and I expected it to be that way at Yale. In reality, their actions indicated that they are not concerned about their students, only about their own reputation," Osberg said.

She said two top Yale administrators, meeting with her in April, "indicated that they believed that I was too young to receive an MFA. Several times, they emphasized the fact that I would only be 20 when receiving my terminal degree and challenged me to think about what I would do with a terminal degree at such a young age.

So: unfairly wronged or just not ready for primetime? A sampling of the precocious artist's work after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »