Overlawyered » colleges and universities

Education roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 09 May 2012 04:06:33 +0000

Thomas Cooley Law School in Michigan, facing class-action suit, subpoenas Colorado lawprof Paul Campos, vocal critic of schools’ disclosure policies [Campos, Scott Greenfield]
“Maintenance of effort”: Yielding to special ed lobby, feds won’t let local school districts cut outlays [Nirvi Shah, Ed Week] “Havoc in classrooms” feared as NYC pushes least restrictive placement of disabled students [NY Post] Feds to universities: it’s an ADA violation to ask suicidal students to leave [WFAE, Popehat]
Arizona lawmaker proposes ban on political viewpoint discrimination in faculty hiring [Inside Higher Ed]
“University of Maryland Cuts Varsity Cheer Program” [Washington Post] Title IX competes with true gender equality
[Doug Robinson, Deseret News via Saving Sports]
Due-process revolution in school discipline hasn’t worked out as intended [Richard Arum, The Atlantic] Heavy police presence in schools is something new [J.D. Tuccille, Reason] “Education Department Pushes Racial Quotas in School Discipline” [Hans Bader, CEI]
“What Yale and the Times Did to Patrick Witt” [KC Johnson, Minding the Campus]

Tags: colleges and universities, disability & schools, law schools, New York Times, school discipline, schools, suici, Title IX, Yale

Education roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

April 11 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:07:03 +0000

“Public pool owners struggle to meet chair-lift deadline” [Springfield, Ill. Journal-Register, earlier]
Punitive damages aren’t vested entitlement/property, so why the surprise they’d be cut off in an administered Chrysler bankruptcy? [Adler]
More on how Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization would chip away rights of accused [Bader, Heritage, earlier]
Defending sale of raw milk on libertarian principle shouldn’t mean overlooking its real risks [Greg Conko/CEI; Mark Perry on one of many heavy-handed enforcement actions against milk vendors]
More tributes to longtime Cato Institute chairman Bill Niskanen [Regulation magazine (PDF), earlier]
Asbestos lawyers wrangle about alleged swiping of client files [Above the Law]
“Nathan Chapman & Michael McConnell: Due Process as Separation of Powers” [SSRN via Rappaport, Liberty & Law]

Tags: asbestos, Cato Institute, Chrysler, colleges and universities, constitutional law, pools, punitive damages

April 11 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Judge Slaps Motley Rice With Fees Over ‘Frivolous’ Lawsuit”

Walter Olson — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:47:50 +0000

“A federal judge in Indiana ordered lawyers including the prominent firm of Motley Rice to pay ITT Educational Services almost $400,000 in legal fees for pursuing a ‘frivolous’ lawsuit the judge said was ‘based on a completely false story.’” In line with the reluctance of American judges to award Rule 11 sanctions, the judge awarded only a small fraction of the defendant’s actual outlay in attorney’s fees, which ran into many millions. Motley Rice is a chief beneficiary of the ongoing income stream of the tobacco litigation fees, which return $500 million a year to an assortment of plaintiff’s firms. [Dan Fisher, Forbes]

Tags: colleges and universities, Motley Rice, sanctions, whistleblowers

“Judge Slaps Motley Rice With Fees Over ‘Frivolous’ Lawsuit” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Judge Approves Lawsuit Against City, Cornell Over Suicide”

Walter Olson — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 12:12:06 +0000

“A federal judge Tuesday okayed a lawsuit claiming the City of Ithaca and Cornell University are liable for the 2010 death of a student.” The father of Bradley Marc Ginsburg “alleges the defendants did not do enough to prevent suicides from the [Thurston Avenue] bridge.” [Ithaca Independent]

Tags: colleges and universities, suicide

“Judge Approves Lawsuit Against City, Cornell Over Suicide” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“NY Woman’s Lawsuit: Roommate Had Too Much Sex”

Walter Olson — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 05:24:45 +0000

News of higher education: “A New York woman has filed a lawsuit against her former Roman Catholic college in Boston, claiming administrators didn’t do enough to help her when she complained that her roommate was having too much sex in their dorm room.” [Denise Lavoie, NBC New York]

Tags: colleges and universities

“NY Woman’s Lawsuit: Roommate Had Too Much Sex” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Not very peaceful

Walter Olson — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:33:16 +0000

North Carolina’s Peace College sends a nastygram to critics [Peter Bonilla, FIRE] More: Popehat.

Tags: colleges and universities, nastygrams

Not very peaceful is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Dharun Ravi on trial for “bias intimidation”

Walter Olson — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:25:20 +0000

Assuming the Rutgers roommate/consummate jerk should be facing criminal charges in the aftermath of Tyler Clementi’s suicide — a big if — it shouldn’t be over purported “bias intimidation,” argues Jacob Sullum [Reason, more; Jersey Conservative] Earlier on the Clementi case here, here, and here. And a Boston case has prompted questions about the reach of hate-crime law: “Are Lesbian Gay-Bashers Guilty of a Hate Crime?” [Atlantic Wire]

Related: At Psychology Today, Israel (Izzy) Kalman writes a blog critical of the rise of the “anti-bullying industry” and attendant efforts to criminalize for the first time many personal interactions both verbal and behavioral.

Tags: bullying, colleges and universities, hate crimes, New Jersey

Dharun Ravi on trial for “bias intimidation” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

University of Alabama vs. sports artist

Walter Olson — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:24:25 +0000

The trademark case between artist Daniel Moore and the University of Alabama, over his paintings of Crimson Tide athletics without permission from the university’s licensing operation, has reached the Eleventh Circuit. [Ben Flanagan, Al.com; earlier]

Tags: Alabama, colleges and universities, copyright, sports

University of Alabama vs. sports artist is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Family of college hazing victim sues bus company

Walter Olson — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:34:42 +0000

“The driver of a bus on which Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion was beaten to death in November stood guard while he was assaulted by fellow band members, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Orlando by Champion’s family.” The bus was parked in a hotel parking lot with the driver not aboard during the incident. The president of the sued company disputes the contentions, saying the driver “did not see any hazing aboard the bus on which Champion collapsed. ‘If she would have seen that, we definitely would have stopped it,’” he said. [Orlando Sentinel]

Tags: colleges and universities, deep pocket, Florida A&M

Family of college hazing victim sues bus company is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Child support for adult college students, cont’d

Walter Olson — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:45:18 +0000

Two years ago a public outcry helped defeat a Virginia proposal that would have required that divorced noncustodial parents continue to support children in college through age 23. (Our post at the time.) Now, as Hans Bader of CEI points out, Maryland’s legislature is considering a bill (up for hearing Feb. 23) to impose this obligation on parents. It doesn’t look as radical as the Virginia bill — the support obligation would only extend through age 21, not 23, for example — and it’s easy to see why it might appeal to the state university and its budgeters, as well as to pro-custodial-parent constituencies in family law. But it still raises some of the same questions of fairness and practicality, given that children past 18 are legally independent and need not be even on speaking terms with the estranged parents, who may be in no financial position to consider, say, finishing their own delayed college plans, yet are expected to foot college bills for their estranged offspring.

Tags: child support, colleges and universities, Maryland

Child support for adult college students, cont’d is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system