Extracurricular Activities, Law, and Policy

The legal relationship between college and university officials and their students is often defined by institutional regulations, rules, and policies that impact extracurricular activities as well as the places in and around campuses where these activities occur. Traditionally, the law has accorded officials at postsecondary institutions extensive autonomy in their daily operations. This academic autonomy has included institutional relationships with students that have been parental in nature. However, over time, the doctrine of in loco parentis, literally, “in the place of the parent,” which applied to the relationship between college and university officials and their students, has diminished, as the relationship has increasingly been viewed as contractual in nature. Of course, to the extent that institutional officials promulgate policies that are incorporated by reference into ...