Cases & Developments - National Association of College and University Attorneys

FILTERS

Latest Cases & Developments

Date:
10/6/2023
Waesche v. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ. (D. Ariz. Sep. 29, 2023)
Order granting Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment. Plaintiff, a former full-time, non-tenured Instructor of Russian Language at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, brought contract and discrimination claims against the University after it declined to renew her contract citing low enrollments. A Faculty Grievance Committee recommended extending her full-time status because her termination letter was signed by the wrong person and issued prior to her annual evaluation, though it found no evidence that her non-renewal was discriminatory, arbitrary, or capricious. In granting summary judgment to the University, the court found that plaintiff could not establish damages because her assertion that her contract would have been renewed if the University had completed her faculty evaluation was speculative. Plaintiff’s discrimination claim failed for lack of evidence that any similarly situated comparators were treated more favorably.
Topics:
Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Employee Discipline & Due Process | Faculty & Staff | Race and National Origin Discrimination
Date:
10/6/2023
Lowery v. Tex. A&M Univ. Sys. (S.D. Tex. Sep. 29, 2023)
Opinion and Order granting Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff, a tenured professor at the University of Texas, brought claims against Texas A&M University, alleging that it discriminates against white and Asian male applicants because it allegedly reserved positions for underrepresented minority candidates in job searches, maintained a faculty fellows program that promotes diversity, and the faculty senate adopted a resolution supporting the goal of promoting diversity. Plaintiff, however, had not yet applied for a position at Texas A&M. In dismissing plaintiff’s claims, the court found that (1) he lacked standing because he had not applied for a position; (2) his case is moot in light of subsequent legal developments, including the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and the passage of SB 17 concerning diversity-and-inclusion initiatives at public universities in Texas; and (3) his claims would not be ripe before SB 17 takes effect.
Topics:
Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Race and National Origin Discrimination | Sex Discrimination | Sex Discrimination in Employment
Date:
10/6/2023
Wu v. Ma (D. Mass. Sep. 28, 2023)
Memorandum and Order granting Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff, a former Ph.D. student from China at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) who had been diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, brought disability discrimination, tort, and contract claims against WPI after it processed an administrative withdrawal and terminated her student visa. While enrolled, plaintiff was hospitalized first for a serious suicide attempt and, two months later, again following expressions of suicidal thoughts. Plaintiff also alleged that a fellow Ph.D. student subjected her to emotional manipulation and spread rumors about her among peers and research supervisors. In granting WPI’s motion to dismiss her disability discrimination claims, the court found her allegation that WPI was inflexible with its leave of absence policy was vague, noting that plaintiff also alleged she had declined an offer of a reduced academic load after her first hospitalization. Turning to her claim that WPI was negligent in not protecting her from her fellow student’s conduct, the court declined to find such a duty, noting that (1) plaintiff was a graduate student and an adult “in all respects under the law,” and (2) WPI did not have notice of the alleged conduct to trigger a special duty until immediately prior to her second hospitalization. In similarly dismissing her claim that WPI breached its contractual obligations by not enforcing its Code of Conduct to protect her from the fellow student, the court noted that she only pointed to aspirational expectations in the Code rather than a specific promise.
Topics:
Campus Police, Safety, & Crisis Management | Disability Discrimination | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Distressed & Suicidal Students | Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration | Sexual Misconduct | Students | Tort Litigation
Date:
10/6/2023
Doe v. New Coll. of Fla. (M.D. Fla. Sep. 28, 2023)
Order granting-in-part and denying-in-part Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment. Plaintiff, a former student at the New College of Florida, brought Title IX and negligence claims against the College after she was sexually assaulted following her participation in the “Tour de Franzia,” a student-run tradition that involved an end-of-semester bicycle tour on and around campus in which small groups of participants were each given a box of wine to consume. In denying summary judgment on plaintiff’s Title IX claims, the court found issues of material fact regarding whether plaintiff informed the Dean of Student Affairs of the assault one week before her assailant’s scheduled graduation and if the Dean replied there was nothing that could be done beyond a no-contact order. The court permitted her negligence claim to proceed with respect to her assertion that Resident Assistants and Teaching Assistants who were obligated to report alcohol use actually supplied alcohol for the Tour, but it dismissed her negligence claim with respect to the design of the College’s policies as barred by state immunity for discretionary functions.
Topics:
Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration | Students | Title IX & Student Sexual Misconduct | Tort Litigation
Date:
10/6/2023
Gonzales v. Hushen (Colo. App. Sep. 28, 2023)
Opinion affirming-in-part, reversing-in-part, and remanding on Defendants’ Anti-SLAPP Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff, a former high school student in the Jefferson County School District (JCSD), brought defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims against two fellow students and their mothers after he was expelled for sexual misconduct but later readmitted after he was tried as a juvenile and acquitted on related criminal charges. Defendants moved to dismiss under Colorado’s Anti-SLAPP law, asserting absolute privilege for statements made in a quasi-judicial proceeding. The trial court granted the motion as to some, but not all, of the communications at issue. In partially affirming and partially reversing, the Colorado Court of Appeals remanded for plaintiff’s claims to proceed as to all of the communications, holding that JCSD’s Title IX procedures were not quasi-judicial for purposes of applying absolute immunity because they did not provide for a hearing with contemporaneous cross-examination, ability to call witnesses, or the right to be represented by counsel.
Topics:
Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration | Students | Title IX & Student Sexual Misconduct | Tort Litigation
Date:
10/6/2023
Loreto v. Ariz. Bd. of Regents (D. Ariz. Sep. 07, 2023)
Report and Recommendation granting-in-part and denying-in-part Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff, an employee of the University of Arizona, brought disability discrimination and retaliation claims against the University and her former supervisor after she resigned her position and the University contested her application for unemployment compensation. Plaintiff, who was subsequently rehired for a new position, alleged that when she needed frequent restroom breaks as she recovered from a recent surgery, her supervisor denied her request for a temporary exemption from a restroom preapproval policy and delayed approval of her individual requests for restroom breaks. The U.S. Magistrate Judge recommended dismissal of plaintiff’s discrimination and hostile work environment claims, finding them time-barred. Turning to her retaliation claim, the Magistrate Judge found that the portion of her claim related to the University’s opposition to her unemployment compensation was timely, that this opposition was an adverse action, and that it was sufficiently close in time to her request for restroom accommodations to allege causation.
Topics:
Disability Discrimination | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Retaliation
Date:
10/6/2023
EEOC Request for Comment on Proposed Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace (Oct. 2, 2023)
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Notice of availability and request for comment on Proposed Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace. The proposed Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace updates EEOC guidance in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County and other recent trends and developments. Comments are due on or before November 1, 2023.
Topics:
Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity
Date:
10/6/2023
Settlement Agreement between U.S. Dep’t of Justice and Stanford University (Sep. 29, 2023)
Settlement Agreement between Stanford University and the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the Departments of the Army, Navy, Air Force, NASA, and National Science Foundation. The Agreement resolves allegations that the University did not make required disclosures of foreign support to 11 professors who were principal investigators (PI) or co-PIs on research grant proposals. Pursuant to the Agreement, the University will pay $1,938,682 and cooperate with the Government’s investigation of individuals and entities not released by the Agreement.
Topics:
Contracts | Grants, Contracts, & Sponsored Research
Date:
10/6/2023
Middle States Commission Call for Comments re: Third-Party Providers Policy and Procedures (Oct. 4, 2023)
Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) call for comments on draft Third-Party Providers Policy and Procedures. The new policy and procedures set definitions and expectations for institutions’ agreements with third-party providers, including online program managers. The procedures also provide for “intense scrutiny” of “excessive outsourcing of key business and operations or functions” and “written arrangements that include advertising, marketing, and recruitment services offered by the third-party provider.” Comments are due by October 20, 2023, and the new policy and procedures will become effective January 1, 2024.
Topics:
Accreditation | Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
Date:
10/6/2023
ACE Comment Letter on DOL/IRS/HHS NPRM on Requirements Related to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Oct. 4, 2023)
Comment Letter from the American Council on Education (ACE) and 18 other higher education associations to the Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service, and Health and Human Services on their Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on “Requirements Related to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.” Noting that emergency waivers instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic to permit interstate care via telehealth have now expired, the letter encourages the regulating agencies to “find ways within their authority to support provision of behavioral health services to students enrolled in higher education institutions,” including via telehealth services, and to recommend to Congress that it fund measures to address student mental health and authorize the interstate provision of behavioral telehealth services for students enrolled in postsecondary institutions.
Topics:
Campus Police, Safety, & Crisis Management | Disability Discrimination | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Distressed & Suicidal Students | Students

NACUA Annual Conference

Join us in the Music City June 29 – July 2 to connect, learn, and lead alongside higher education attorneys shaping policy, practice, and impact nationwide together.