Disciplinary Sanctions and Due Process Rights

Historical Background

Historically, courts (and parents) bestowed significant independent discretion on officials in institutions of higher education regarding student discipline. As early as Gott v. Berea College (1913), college and university administrators were seen as standing in loco parentis to students; their authority was considered similar to that of educators in K-12. From the early 1900s to the late 1960s, administrators in higher education had autocratic authority over students. During this time, courts rarely, if ever, examined the propriety of administrative decision making, institutional policies, or the fairness of disciplinary actions.

The broad discretionary authority exerted over students by higher education administrators has diminished significantly since the 1960s. The seminal case establishing the requisite due process that officials have to provide to students in higher education in connection with disciplinary hearings is Dixon v. Alabama State Board of Education (1961).

[Page 125]In Dixon, the Fifth Circuit held that the Fourteenth Amendment's right to due process extended to university students who were involved in disciplinary situations. Dixon involved a group of African American college students who were expelled for protesting racial segregation by participating in marches and demonstrations. On the basis of an institutional regulation authorizing expulsion for “conduct prejudicial to the school and for conduct unbecoming a student … for insubordination and insurrection, or for inciting other pupils to like conduct,” university officials expelled the students. The Fifth Circuit found that officials violated the students' due process rights, because the regulation itself was vague, and they did not receive a hearing prior to their expulsion. The court thus applied the due process standard of notice and a hearing to protect the rights of the students.

Substantive versus Procedural Due Process

There are two types of due process. Substantive due process requires the content of legislation and regulations to be fair and to advance reasonable governmental objectives. Within the realm of higher education, substantive due process ensures basic fairness of regulations and policies that institutional officials establish and implement. Additionally, disciplinary consequences must have a rational relationship to the facts of cases and must stem from information and evidence presented at hearings. Moreover, administrators who preside over hearings must act in an impartial manner. Procedural due process, which promotes systematic decision making, requires at a minimum notice and a hearing if a significant life, liberty, or property interest is threatened. Deciding how much due process must be afforded to students depends largely on the specific facts of cases and increases as the severity of harm to their liberty or property interests increases. For example, student suspensions or expulsions are serious deprivations of liberty, and therefore they require a higher degree of due process protection. Procedural due process equates to the series of safeguards erected to protect students' interests before and during disciplinary actions that are taken against them.

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