Cases & Developments

Memorandum Opinion granting Defendant’s Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings.  Plaintiff is a former student and varsity basketball player at the University of New Mexico (UNM) who was placed on interim suspension and banned from campus and from basketball team activities after he was accused of battery.  Plaintiff alleged that the Dean of Students violated his due process rights when she banned him temporarily from campus and University housing.  In granting the Dean’s motion for judgment on the pleadings, the court held although plaintiff had sufficiently alleged a property right in continued enrollment, the University’s procedures provided due process.  It also held that even if he had a property right in his University-provided housing and meals, the two eviction notices and four hearings provided him with adequate notice and process.  It held, however, that he had not sufficiently alleged a property right in his ability to play basketball.  Finally, the court also held that the Dean was also entitled to qualified immunity because the alleged property rights were not clearly established.