Due Process, Substantive and Procedural

Affording persons or organizations “due process” basically means to conduct legal proceedings with fairness in both content and procedure. In private colleges and universities, the principles of due process are usually governed by standards of good faith in adherence to provisions of contracts and handbooks. In contrast, as arms of state governments, public institutions of higher education are subject to the constraints of the U.S. Constitution. The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution states, as a command to the federal government, that no person shall be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” This phrase is, essentially, the only command that appears twice in the Constitution. Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment extends the same principles of due process to state governments ...