University of Virginia Library

Law Review
Urges Respect
For Rights

By PAT GRANEY

Public colleges may find
difficulty in prosecuting
students for exorbitant
extracurricular activities, warns
third-year University law
student Ross C. Reeves in an
analysis of "Students'
Constitutional Rights on Public
Campuses."

Although college education
was once considered a
privilege and therefore not
protected by the Bill of Rights,
Mr. Reeves said, courts now
generally view higher
education as "a necessity
demanded by the many" due
to "the demands of an
increasingly complex society."

According to his
interpretations of recent legal
developments, Mr. Reeves
advises state school
administrators to create
discipline systems that do not
violate the individual rights of
students as citizens if they
want these regulations to hold
up in court.

The analysis, which
appeared in a recent issue of
the "Virginia Law Review,"
outlines the standards which
courts might use to distinguish
between the school's
authority-responsibility rules
and a student's civil rights.

Rules Of Evidence

"Rules of evidence are
premised in part on the belief
that the resources of the state
enable it to prove facts by
means other than hearsay and
second-best evidence," Reeves
explained. However, "colleges
may lack the legal skills, the
time, and the manpower
necessary to establish a case
without relying on techniques
prohibited in the courts," he
said.

Yet, colleges may support
findings of student misconduct
with "probative facts," he
continued. The courts will also
consider the "fundamental
fairness" and the
"reasonableness" of an
administration's procedures
and regulations.

Ill-Defined Procedures

"The problems really exist
where procedures are not well
defined such as small public or
community colleges where the
administration is under a strain
to enforce regulations. You
really don't get into these
problems at large and
prestigious institutions where
such questionable procedures
might exist but are not really
enforced under an enlightened
system," Mr. Reeves said.