Due Process, Substantive and Procedural

Due Process Rights

In order to present viable claims for violations of due process, plaintiffs, whether they are faculty members, staff workers, administrators, or students, [Page 136]must allege that they were deprived of life, liberty, or property interests in connection with their activities. Due process claims alleging deprivations of life in higher education settings are very rare, because life interests under the due process clause are just what they sound like. Although there are some examples involving life interests, such as deaths of students as a result of accidents on campuses stemming from hazing, binge drinking, or athletics, these are beyond the scope of this entry.

Claims involving liberty and property interests are much more common. In higher education, liberty interests are implicated in a wide variety of cases involving student admissions, discipline, academics, degree revocation, and employment. As to faculty members, staff, and administrators, litigation typically involves hiring, dismissals, and promotion and tenure decisions. Traditional liberty interests include rights to speech, religion, assembly, and privacy. Yet much of the discussion of liberty interests in due process analysis involves the interest in persons' good names, reputations, honor, and integrity. For example, stigmatizing statements made by college or university officials about faculty members or students may damage their reputations enough to implicate liberty interests. If the damages were to harm the faculty members' or students' ability to obtain employment or other lucrative opportunities, then the injured parties may have successful due process claims. Property interests for faculty and staff are found in employment contracts. For students, property interests include the right to an earned benefit such as a course grade or degree or the right to stay in school.

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