![]() ![]() Lopez, the Supreme Court of the United States held that public school students facing even a short suspension - 10 days or less - are entitled to notice of the charges against them and the opportunity to present their side of the story. So what does this mean? In the 1975 case of Goss v. Constitution, which provides (among other things) that no one may “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” Because this “Due Process Clause” constrains government actors, and state colleges and universities are government actors, this means that students at state universities have constitutional due process rights that their universities cannot violate in the course of conducting student disciplinary proceedings. The right to due process is grounded in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. ![]() Depending on the type of school (public or private), the school’s policies, and applicable state law, this may be illegal. On our nation’s campuses, students accused of serious offenses are often denied the opportunity to have a meaningful hearing, are denied access to evidence in their cases, and/or are unable to confront the witnesses against them. What many people don’t realize, however, is that colleges often decide whether to suspend or expel students with very little of what lawyers refer to as due process - the set of rules and procedures that the authorities must follow in order to ensure that the decisions they make are fair and just. Administrators’ choice of whether to grant you a degree, or whether to place a mark on your transcript saying that you have committed a serious disciplinary offense, can have a dramatic impact on your future. The college you attend holds a tremendous amount of power over your life.
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