Cases & Developments - National Association of College and University Attorneys

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Date:
8/27/2025
Dudley v. Boise State University (9th Cir. Aug. 27th, 2025)
Opinion Reversing in Part and Affirming in Part. Plaintiff, a graduate of Boise State University, brought due process claims against the university after her degree was revoked for misconduct during a required internship. The District Court found in favor of the university, determining that plaintiff was afforded sufficient notice and opportunity to be heard and that she failed to allege a property interest in her university education. On appeal, the Circuit Court affirmed the district court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s substantive due process claim, reasoning that the university’s decision to revoke the degree was “not substantively arbitrary [or] lacking a rational basis.” However, the court reversed its dismissal of her procedural due process claim, calling the revocation “procedurally infirm.” The court held that because plaintiff had an ascertainable monetary value in her degree and further had “a legitimate claim of entitlement” to her degree under Idaho law, the university improperly denied her procedural due process rights when it revoked her degree without any notice or hearing.
Topics:
Academic Performance and Misconduct | Constitutional Issues | Due Process | Internships, Externships, & Clinical Work | Students
Date:
8/30/2024
U.S. Dep’t of Education Final Rule on NRC and FLAS Fellowship Programs (Aug. 27, 2024)
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education Final Rule on National Resource Centers (NRC) Program and Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships Program. The new regulations provide clearer interpretations of statutory language, redesign selection criteria, and incorporate updates based on program management experience. The new regulations aim to improve the application process and align administrators of the programs with recent developments in modern foreign language and area studies education. The new regulations will go into effect on September 26, 2024 (instructions 8 and 9 eff. Aug. 15, 2025).
Topics:
Internships, Externships, & Clinical Work | Students
Date:
5/10/2024
Dudley v. Boise State Univ. (D. Idaho May 3, 2024)
Memorandum Decision and Order granting Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff, a graduate of Boise State University, brought due process claims against the University after her degree was revoked for misconduct during a required internship. After she graduated with a B.A. in Social Work, passed a licensing exam, and became a licensed social worker, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare informed the University that plaintiff had accessed without authorization confidential records pertaining to child protection cases involving individuals she knew personally. As a result, the University changed her internship grade from Pass to Fail, updated her transcripts, cancelled her degree, and sent a revised transcript to the state Board of Social Work Examiners. After the court declined to extend a temporary restraining order, the University proceeded to a Student Conduct Hearing that found plaintiff responsible for the misconduct and sanctioned her with degree revocation and expulsion. In granting the University’s motion to dismiss, the court held that plaintiff failed to allege a property interest in her University education because she cited no state law conferring such a right. It further held that even assuming both a property interest and that the actions were disciplinary in nature, the University’s conduct hearing and subsequent appeal process afforded her sufficient notice and opportunity to be heard.
Topics:
Academic Performance and Misconduct | Constitutional Issues | Due Process | Internships, Externships, & Clinical Work | Students
Date:
4/12/2024
Royan v. Chi. State Univ. (N.D. Ill. Apr. 5, 2024)
Memorandum Opinion and Order granting summary judgment in favor it the University. Plaintiff, a former Doctor of Pharmacy Student at Chicago State University who had been diagnosed with clinical depression and an eating disorder, brought discrimination and due process claims against the University after she abandoned her first attempt at her clinical rotation following a dispute with her supervisors over her progress and subsequently failed a remedial rotation. Plaintiff further alleged that the then acting dean violated her due process rights by moving slowly in adjudicating her appeal. The acting dean, whose responsibilities concluded at the end of the month in which plaintiff submitted her appeal letter through counsel, forwarded the letter to university counsel, and the new dean denied the appeal, finding the program had followed its policies. In granting summary judgment to the University on her disability discrimination claim, the court found that she failed to establish that she was a qualified individual due to her failed rotations and that she would otherwise be unable to demonstrate pretext. In granting summary judgment in favor of the former dean on plaintiff’s due process claim, the court found that the former dean was not obligated to resolve her appeal before he left the role and was not responsible for the adjudication thereafter.
Topics:
Constitutional Issues | Disability Discrimination | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Due Process | Internships, Externships, & Clinical Work | Students
Date:
10/13/2023
Aslani v. Bd. of Trs. of the Univ. of Ill. (N.D. Ill. Oct. 6, 2023)
Memorandum Opinion and Order granting Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment. Plaintiff, a former student at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, brought Title IX and retaliation claims against the University after it dismissed her for unprofessional conduct related to two clinical clerkships. She received a grade of “unsatisfactory” for the first following multiple complaints about her behavior. The second followed a self-designed “coursework letter” under the supervision of a mentor not affiliated with the University. At the clerkship’s end, the mentor declined to complete the registrar’s evaluation, citing that he had never seen the coursework letter and plaintiff was not present in his office during the time outlined in the letter. Plaintiff, who created an email account in the mentor’s name to submit the coursework letter, asserted that she had actually completed the clerkship months earlier, that the mentor had harassed her sexually, and that her mother had left a voice message at the time with the University’s Office of Access and Equity to that effect. In granting summary judgment to the University on plaintiff’s Title IX claim, the court found that the University did not have substantial control over either the alleged harasser or the location of harassment. In dismissing her retaliation claim, the court further found that multiple instances of “‘unprofessional conduct’ interrupted any causal nexus between [her mother’s voice message] and the adverse action” and that plaintiff had offered no other evidence suggesting pretext.
Topics:
Academic Performance and Misconduct | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Internships, Externships, & Clinical Work | Retaliation | Sex Discrimination | Students
Date:
10/13/2023
Gradeless v. Kan. State Univ. (D. Kan. Oct. 6, 2023)
Memorandum and Order granting-in-part and denying-in-part Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff, a former student at Ross University of Veterinary Medicine in St. Kitts, West Indies, who was completing clinical rotations at Kansas State University (KSU) and who has a medical condition causing serious reactions to some anesthesia medications, brought discrimination claims against KSU after he was dismissed for unsatisfactory performance in three clinical rotation courses. The professors in one noted that he appeared to lack empathy, which plaintiff asserted was because the respirator he wore due to his condition made it difficult to see his facial expressions. In dismissing plaintiff’s claim for damages, the court found that he had not sufficiently alleged deliberate indifference because he had not established that any official overseeing his instructors with authority to address the alleged discrimination had actual knowledge of the discrimination. It permitted him to proceed, however, in his claim for injunction and declaratory relief, finding that although he does not seek to return to KSU, the poor grades and dismissal continue to damage his academic record.
Topics:
Academic Performance and Misconduct | Disability Discrimination | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Internships, Externships, & Clinical Work | Students
Date:
8/4/2023
Steshenko v. Foothill-De Anza Cmty. Coll. Dist. (Cal. App. July 26, 2023)
Opinion affirming summary judgment in favor of the College. Plaintiff, a former student in the medical laboratory technician (MLT) program at De Anza College who is over 50, brought age discrimination, contract, and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims against the College after he was unable to secure a clinical externship as required for graduation and licensure. Three sites declined to hire him, and he refused to consider sites he deemed to require a prohibitive commute. In affirming summary judgment in favor of the College on his state-law age discrimination claim, the California Court of Appeals held that the MLT program was an educational program to prepare plaintiff for employment rather than a training program leading to employment. His contract claim failed because he failed to show either (1) the College’s contracts with its clinical placement sites were included in his contract, or (2) the College breached its contractual relation with him. His IIED claim failed because, while he alleged the College could have done more to assist him in securing an externship with one of his preferred sites, he presented no evidence that the College acted in an extreme or outrageous manner.
Topics:
Age Discrimination | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Internships, Externships, & Clinical Work | Students
Date:
8/4/2023
Tercier v. Univ. of Miami (Fla. App. Aug. 2, 2023)
Opinion affirming dismissal. Plaintiff, a former nursing student at the University of Miami, brought contract claims against the University after he twice failed clinical placement courses and was dismissed from the program due to concerns regarding his clinical skills. In affirming dismissal, the Florida Court of Appeals noted that under the program’s Student Handbook, failure of a course is grounds for dismissal, and it found that his allegations that the failing grades were based on discriminatory animus were vague and conclusory.
Topics:
Academic Performance and Misconduct | Internships, Externships, & Clinical Work | Students
Date:
7/14/2023
Maker v. Temple Univ. (E.D. Pa. June 26, 2023)
Memorandum Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. Plaintiff, a former student in physical therapy at Temple University, brought contract and due process claims against the University after she was removed from her clinical internship due to safety concerns and dismissed from the program. The court ruled in favor of the University on plaintiff’s contract claims, finding no evidence of a promise to permit plaintiff to complete her clinical placement before assigning her a failing grade when, as here, she was deemed to be a safety risk to patients. It similarly ruled in favor of the University on her due process claims, finding (1) that the University was entitled to rely on the judgment of the clinical placement coordinator at her clinical site and (2) that it is entitled to remove a student from the internship setting based on concerns for safety and need not wait until a patient suffers injury.
Topics:
Academic Performance and Misconduct | Internships, Externships, & Clinical Work | Students
Date:
5/12/2023
Wegmann v. Trs. of John A. Logan Coll. (S.D. Ill. May 10, 2023)
Memorandum Opinion and Order denying Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff, a former student in the Cardiac Sonography Program at John A. Logan College, brought religious discrimination claims against the College, alleging that he was forced to withdraw from the program because it would not assist him in obtaining a religious exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine requirement at his clinical rotation site. Site officials informed him that they do not give exemptions to students, but that they would accept an exemption provided by the College. The College’s clinical site coordinator, however, allegedly declined to assist, citing that the College did not have a vaccination requirement and could not provide an exemption for the clinical site’s requirement. The College moved to dismiss the action based on standing. Denying the motion, the court held that plaintiff alleged a sufficient nexus between his injury of not being able to complete the clinical rotation and the College’s conduct and informal policies.
Topics:
Campus Police, Safety, & Crisis Management | Coronavirus | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Internships, Externships, & Clinical Work | Religious Discrimination & Accommodation | Students

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