The doctrine of sovereign immunity in Florida has evolved over time as the common law and statutory environment within the state has changed. Public schools and public-school employees enjoy some level of immunity protection under both common law and statutory law. Nonetheless, Florida law creates a duty to provide a safe environment for students…

In this qualitative study, 21 Title IX federal court cases between 2000-2022 were examined. The purpose of this analysis was to explore how the changes in Title IX guidance across President George W. Bush (R), President Barack Obama (D), and President Donald Trump (R) administrations have impacted higher education institutional liability lawsuits.…

Jennifer Bradley (plaintiff) was a junior year student athlete at the University in Washington, D.C. Bradley played field hockey for the university, and in September 2011, she was hit on the head during a field hockey game between the university and Richmond University. After that hit, she began experiencing symptoms of a concussion, but continued…

There is probably no more difficult aspect of school-based mental health practice than navigating assessment, prevention, and postvention related to youth suicide. Although many schools follow best practices and respond appropriately, there are important lessons to be learned from cases that resulted in litigation. This article reviews key cases…

From the establishment of institutions of higher education in Colonial America until the 1970s, college administrators have acted "in loco parentis," or as legal guardians of students "in the place of parents." Under the legal regime of "in loco parentis," society and the legal system required school administrators to…

This study discusses the student activism that led to the legal case that established due process rights for students at state-funded colleges and universities. In 1960, Alabama State College students organized a sit-in demonstration against Jim Crow segregation and subsequently challenged their expulsion from the college for taking part in the…

The recent case of "Nguyen v. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, et al.," considered the question of whether a college or university has the affirmative obligation to protect its students from all harm at all times, including suicide. Han Nguyen was a 25-year old graduate student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) when he…

Violence in schools remains a complex and challenging issue. In this article, we examine schools' responsibilities in placement and the provision of services for students who have chronically exhibited dangerous behaviors. Multiple court cases have provided schools guidance in evaluating when student removal through injunctive relief for dangerous…

Recently, public higher education institutions have experienced an increase in requests from extreme political figures from both the right and left to speak on campus. College administrators must comply with laws and fulfill their legal responsibilities while addressing concerns about campus safety--including those held by students and faculty.…

Suicide rates among teenagers have increased significantly in recent years. The professional literature for public school personnel has been increasingly extensive. Yet, the corresponding coverage of liability case law regarding student suicide has been far from systematic and objective. An article in a legal periodical, written by Zirkel and…

The jurisdiction of schools has long been contested. Initially, under the sway of loco parentis, parents delegated all authority to educators. With ascendency of the common school movement in the 19th century, however, the doctrine confronted reverses. As the student body increased in size and heterogeneity, families no longer spoke with a single…

This article begins by describing a scenario in which a fourth-grade learning disabled student's individualized education program (IEP) team came together to develop his IEP and in so doing made a number of procedural and substantive errors. The purpose of this article is to examine the procedural and substantive requirements of the Individuals…

America faces a growing crisis about who can say what on our college campuses. At root this is a crisis of authority. In recent decades university administrators, professors, and student activists have quietly excluded more and more voices from the exchange of views on campus. This has taken shape in several ways, not all of which are reducible to…

Background/Context: Legal scholars have cited the Fifth Circuit's ruling in Dixon v. Alabama State Board of Education (1961) as the beginning of a revolution for students' rights that ended the in loco parentis relationship between colleges and their students. But little has been written about the students' activism that led to this seminal case.…

The focus of this article is liability of higher education institutions for off-campus housing. In the off-campus housing context, the "assumed duty" theory was determinative in a 2006 Delaware Supreme Court case. A student was assaulted by the boyfriend of another student in the parking lot of off-campus housing. The housing was…