James grad level mistake.

Unless it was a character error. But it's such a tiny thing, I don't think anyone would bother.

Further reflection... I disagree with my above post. I think this was indeed a purposeful mistake - it is one more thing that highlights the incredible dimness of the head of the English Department - Richard Thomas playing Walter Gaskell, who is also the husband of the Dean, and he makes multiple errors in his final speech - including mistaking the name of James's novel - he says "I believe it is titled...[pause] The Lovely Parade"
And the film flashes to Grady and then to Crabtree, sitting at a great distance from one other, but they echo the same exact thing: the correct title of James Leer's book, each saying to themselves "Love Parade".
(Sorry. I've seen this movie a lot. :)

Sooo there's a very obvious mistake, the head of the English Dept. can't even get the title correct, when speaking of his own student. It's possible this character, Walker Gaskell, is intended to make another error, giving one final illustration of his utter lameness; he cannot even get the details of his own student correct, let alone the correct title of that student's book. Instead, he hurries to announce, with a bit more detail, the publication of his own boring-sounding book "The Last American Marriage", which is apparently some obscure academic work about Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio.

So to shorten: this discrepancy, James Leer is a junior but Gaskell says he is a sophomore, this is not a goof; instead, it is a character error on the part of the head of the English Department.
(This is a rare instance in which Grady Tripp's account seems more reliable than that of Walter Gaskell.)

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