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  • Date:

    Thomas v. Coppin State Univ. (D. Md. Jan. 25, 2024)

    Memorandum Opinion granting Defendants’ Partial Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff, who was in his first year as a tenure-track assistant professor at Coppin State University, brought discrimination and due process claims against the University after he was placed on paid administrative leave and notified that his appointment would not be renewed after the University received multiple allegations of workplace hostility against him. Plaintiff alleged that a dean and colleagues had been dismissive of his back issues and other health concerns and that officials had not provided support when he sought assistance addressing disruptive student behavior in his classroom. In dismissing his hostile work environment claim, the court found plaintiff had alleged insufficient facts to plead a severe or pervasive hostile environment. In dismissing his due process claim, the court noted that he received a notice of nonrenewal rather than a termination and that he failed to establish a property interest in anything beyond his one-year term appointment.   

    Topics:

    Constitutional Issues | Disability Discrimination | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Due Process

  • Date:

    Denton v. Bd. of Governors for the State Univ. Sys. of Fla. (N.D. Fla. Jan. 24, 2024)

    Order granting Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiffs, students at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), on behalf of themselves and a putative class of “all Black students at FAMU at any time during the 2021/2022 school year through the date of class certification,” brought Title VI and the Equal Protection claims against the University and the State of Florida, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief only, alleging both intentional discrimination and a failure to dismantle patterns of discrimination dating to Florida’s system of de jure segregation before Brown v. Board of Education. In granting defendants’ motion to dismiss, though the court noted differences in funding and graduation and retention rates, it held that plaintiffs’ alleged facts were insufficient to show that disparate State funding, including land-grant funding, and overlap or duplication of program offerings between FAMU and Florida’s other state universities were traceable to de jure segregation or intentional discrimination.

    Topics:

    Constitutional Issues | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Equal Protection | Race and National Origin Discrimination

  • Date:

    Hartke v. Bonhams & Butterfields Auctioneers Corp. (S.D. N.Y. Dec. 11, 2023)

    Memorandum Opinion & Order granting Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff is the niece of Father Gilbert V. Hartke, a priest of the Dominican order who taught drama at the Catholic University of America until he died intestate in 1986. She, in her individual capacity and on behalf of Father Hartke’s estate, sued the University and its auctioneers, asserting rights to a “blue pinafore dress with a white blouse, which had been worn by Judy Garland when she appeared as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz film” that had been given to Father Hartke and that was “discovered” in 2021 “in a storage location” on the University’s campus among other items that had belonged to him. In granting dismissal for lack of standing, the court held that plaintiff did not plead facts sufficient to show that she was the real party in interest, noting that Father Hartke had taken a vow of poverty at his ordination in 1933 whereby he renounced his salary and temporal goods in favor of the Dominican order, that the only item listed in the inventory of his estate during probate proceedings was the right to publicize his name, and that plaintiff had shown no basis for her now to assert a claim on behalf of the estate.   

    Topics:

    Endowments & Gifts | Taxes & Finances

  • Date:

    U.S. Dep.’t of Education OIRA Filing of the Title IX Final Rule (Feb. 2, 2024)

    U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights filing with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) of the Final Rule on Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance. Through this action pursuant to Executive Order 12866, the Department shared the Final Rule on Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance. OIRA has 90 days to conduct a cost-benefit analysis before returning the proposed rule to the Department for publication in the Federal Register.   

    Topics:

    Students | Title IX & Student Sexual Misconduct

  • Date:

    U.S. Dep.’t of Homeland Security Final Rule on Improving H-1B Registration Selection Process (Feb. 2, 2024)

    U.S. Department of Homeland Security Final Rule on Improving the H-1B Registration Selection Process and Program Integrity. This Rule implements a beneficiary centric selection process for H-1B registrations whereby each beneficiary will enter the selection process only once without regard to the number of registrations submitted on their behalf. The Rule also provides flexibility on the start date for certain H-1B cap-subject petitions and implements additional integrity measures such as the beneficiary’s valid passport or travel document information for each registration.   

    Topics:

    Employment of Foreign Nationals | Faculty & Staff

  • Date:

    U.S. Dep.’t of Education RFI on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Needs in Higher Education (Jan. 26, 2024)

    U.S. Department of Education Request for Information (RFI) on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Needs in Higher Education. The Department seeks “information, research, and suggestions regarding supporting student mental health and/or substance use disorder (behavioral health) needs” including examples of effective practices or supports from State higher education agencies, as well as potential challenges to designing solutions. Comments are due on or before February 25, 2024.

    Topics:

    Campus Police, Safety, & Crisis Management | Disability Discrimination | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Distressed & Suicidal Students

  • Date:

    NACUBO On Your Side (Jan. 29, 2024)

    Summary from the National Association of College & University Business Officers on legislative and regulatory actions that occurred from January 9-29, 2024. This summary highlights the introduction of the College Cost Reduction Act (H.R. 6951) by Representative Virginia Foxx, chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce; oral arguments in the Supreme Court in cases considering whether it should overrule Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council; NACUBO’s updated student account policy manual advisory; the NCAA’s newly approved disclosure and transparency rules addressing student-athlete protections related to name, image, and likeness (NIL); a new report on undergraduate enrollments from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center; and NACUBO’s advocacy with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding its NPRM on “Unfair and Deceptive Fees” and with the Public Finance Network (PFN) outlining areas where Congress can strengthen tax-exempt bonds. 

    Topics:

    Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act

  • Date:

    Porter v. Bd. of Trs. of N.C. State Univ. (U.S. Jan. 22, 2024)

    Order denying petition for certiorari. Plaintiff, a tenured professor in the College of Education at North Carolina State University, brought First Amendment retaliation claims against the University, University officials, and multiple colleagues after he was removed from a student advising role in the program and assigned an additional course to teach due to his lack of collegiality in criticizing efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the School and the field. Previously, the Fourth Circuit affirmed dismissal, finding that his comments to colleagues about department operations were unprotected and that he failed to establish a causal connection between a blog post attacking a professional association as “woke” and his removal, in part due to lack of temporal proximity. In its Order List, the Supreme Court denied certiorari without comment.   

    Topics:

    Constitutional Issues | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | First Amendment & Free Speech | Retaliation

  • Date:

    Doe v. Butler Univ. (S.D. Ind. Jan. 22, 2024)

    Order denying Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiffs, four female student-athletes at Butler University in cases now consolidated, sued the University, its athletics director, and an athletic trainer, alleging that the trainer sexually abused them. In denying the University’s motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction under Indiana’s Medical Malpractice Act – which requires review by an administrative medical review panel – the court ruled that the state law could not alter federal jurisdiction and that the Act was irrelevant since allegations of sexual abuse are not properly cognized as assertions of inadequate medical care. The court also permitted plaintiffs’ negligent supervision claim to proceed against the athletics director, finding that under Indiana law a supervisor may also be liable for negligent supervision.   

    Topics:

    Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Employee Sexual Misconduct | Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration | Sex Discrimination | Tort Litigation

  • Date:

    Yao v. Oakland Univ. (6th Cir. Jan. 19, 2024) (unpub.)

    Opinion affirming summary judgment in favor of the University. Plaintiff, a former tenure-track assistant professor of nursing at Oakland University who is of Chinese national origin, brought discrimination and retaliation claims against the University after it cited her lack of peer-reviewed publications in denying her tenure. In affirming summary judgment in favor of the University on her discrimination claim, the Sixth Circuit found that plaintiff was not similarly situated to her closest comparator because the comparator had one published article and one designated at the “revise and resubmit” stage, whereas plaintiff only had one co-authored article published. In affirming summary judgment in favor of the University on her retaliation claim, the Sixth Circuit noted that plaintiff filed the claim she asserted as protected activity a month after the University notified her that her employment would end.   

    Topics:

    Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Faculty & Staff | Race and National Origin Discrimination | Retaliation | Tenure

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