Cases & Developments - National Association of College and University Attorneys

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Date:
7/14/2023
Ohio State Univ. v. Snyder-Hill (U.S. June 26, 2023)
Order denying petition for certiorari. Plaintiffs, who alleged they were among hundreds of male student-athletes at Ohio State University who were sexually abused over a period of many years beginning in 1978 by one-time athletic team doctor and university physician, brought Title IX claims against the University alleging that it was deliberately indifferent to the risk of the doctor’s abuse. Plaintiffs assert that the University forced the doctor to retire in 1998 but did not reveal the allegations against him. They further assert that when the doctor set up private practice near campus and advertised in the student newspaper, the University did not act to substantiate numerous additional complaints until 2018. The district court dismissed plaintiffs’ claims as time-barred, but the Sixth Circuit reversed and remanded, holding they had plausibly alleged sufficient grounds to delay accrual. In its June 26, 2023 Order List, the Supreme Court denied certiorari.
Topics:
Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Employee Sexual Misconduct | Sex Discrimination | Students | Title IX & Student Sexual Misconduct
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:
7/14/2023
Caldwell v. Univ. of N.M. Bd. of Regents, et al. (D. N.M. June 23, 2023)
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.
Topics:
Constitutional Issues | Due Process | Student Athlete Issues | Student Conduct | Students
Date:
7/14/2023
U.S. Dep.’t of Education Dear Colleague Letter on Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreements and Class Action Waivers (July 3, 2023)
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Federal Student Aid Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) on Implementation and Policy Guidance of the Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreement Provisions. The DCL provides guidance to institutions participating in the Direct Loan Program on amendments to agreements with students or notices to those students that might be required for compliance with new regulations, which became effective on July 1, 2023, prohibiting institutions from requiring students to agree to internal dispute resolution requirements, class action bans, or pre-dispute arbitration agreements in order to benefit from a Direct Loan.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Students
Date:
6/23/2023
Bhatnagar v. The New Sch. (2nd Cir. June 20, 2023)
Order affirming summary judgment in favor of the University. Plaintiff, a former student in the Master of Fine Arts program at the Parsons School of Design at the New School, brought disability discrimination and contract claims against the University after it awarded him grades of C+ for thesis work and incomplete coursework and conferred his degree, rather than permit him a third year for addiitonal studies. The Second Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of the University on his disability discrimination claim, finding that although instructors believed he suffered from mental illness, their actions were based on other concerns, including accusations he made against faculty, potential disruptions to the next MFA class, his inability to complete his thesis, and his resistance to meeting with the Dean to discuss his situation. It affirmed summary judgment on his contract claim, finding that it was fundamentally a grading dispute and therefore non-cognizable under the educational malpractice doctrine.
Topics:
Academic Performance and Misconduct | Disability Discrimination | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Students
Date:
6/23/2023
Lee v. Yale Univ. (2nd Cir. June 20, 2023)
Summary Order affirming dismissal. Plaintiff, a forensic psychologist and former voluntary Assistant Clinical Professor in the Law and Psychiatry Division of the Yale School of Medicine, brought contract and state law claims against the University, alleging it violated her academic freedom when it declined to renew her appointment citing ethical concerns over her public statements diagnosing political figures with a “shared psychosis.” In affirming dismissal, the Second Circuit held that her contract claims failed because she had not adequately alleged a promise to renew her appointment even in the face of such public statements. It further held that her claim under a state statute establishing liability for an employer who disciplines or discharges an employee for exercising First Amendment rights failed because she had not adequately alleged remuneration.
Topics:
Academic Performance and Misconduct | Employee Discipline & Due Process | Faculty & Staff | Students
Date:
6/23/2023
Doe v. Oberlin Coll. (N.D. Ohio June 16, 2023)
Opinion and Order granting-in-part and denying-in-part Defendants’ Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. Plaintiff, a student at Oberlin College, brought Title IX selective enforcement, contract, and negligence claims against the College and its Title IX Coordinator after a female student alleged that plaintiff had engaged in sexual misconduct with her when she was intoxicated. The College’s investigation subsequently found plaintiff had not violated its Sexual Misconduct Policy. The court permitted plaintiff to proceed on his selective enforcement claim, finding he sufficiently alleged that even though his accuser believed plaintiff was intoxicated at the time, the college did not investigate her for misconduct too. It cautioned that to show that he and his accuser were similarly situated, and thereby to survive summary judgment, plaintiff must show that they were equally intoxicated at the time. The court also permitted plaintiff’s breach of contract claim to proceed related to the College’s alleged departures from its disciplinary policies, but it dismissed his negligence claim as duplicative of his contract claim.
Topics:
Students | Title IX & Student Sexual Misconduct
Date:
6/23/2023
U.S. Dep.’t of Education Updated Waivers and Modifications (June 19, 2023)
U.S. Department of Education Updated Waivers and Modifications after the termination of the COVID-19 National Emergency. With the end of the COVID-19 national emergency, ED issued updated waivers and modifications to Federal student financial aid programs under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act). ED had waived the requirement that institutions of higher education require a parental signature, if the applicant is a dependent student, to verify the number of family members in a household enrolled in IHEs, as well as permitted supporting documents to be sent via email or text message. That waiver expires at the end of the payment period beginning after the national emergency ends on April 10, 2023.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Students
Date:
6/16/2023
McCarthy, et al. v. Jauregui, et al. (M.D. Pa. June 2, 2023)
Report and Recommendation granting-in-part and denying-in-part Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff is a Title IX complainant at King’s College, and defendants are the respondent and his attorney. Respondent was expelled for engaging in nonconsensual sexual intercourse with complainant. As the investigation proceeded, respondent retained counsel and subsequently filed a Title IX counterclaim against complainant, asserting that she had previously engaged in sexual violence against him. During that investigation, however, he recanted or modified many of his initial allegations. Plaintiff sued defendants, alleging, among other things, that the Title IX counterclaim was an abuse of process. Applying Pennsylvania tort law, the Magistrate Judge permitted the claim to proceed, finding both that the federal Title IX regulations require sufficient procedural protections to constitute a quasi-judicial proceeding and that plaintiff had sufficiently alleged that defendants knowingly pursued meritless assertions.
Topics:
Students | Title IX & Student Sexual Misconduct
Date:
6/16/2023
IRS Office of Chief Counsel Memo re: Whether NIL Collectives Further Exempt Purposes (May 23, 2023)
U.S. Internal Revenue Service Office of Chief Counsel Memorandum on Whether Operation of an NIL Collective Furthers an Exempt Purpose Under Section 501(c)(3). The memo concludes that “many organizations that develop paid NIL opportunities for student-athletes are not tax exempt as described in section 501(c)(3) because the private benefits they provide to student-athletes are not incidental both qualitatively and quantitatively to any exempt purpose furthered by that activity.” The memo notes that many NIL collectives may already have received favorable determination letters and that these may be candidates for section 7805(b) relief from retroactive enforcement upon reconsideration of their exempt status.
Topics:
Foundations & Affiliated Entities | Governance | Student Athlete Issues | Students | Taxes & Finances

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