Student Conduct Regulations

The law relating to university students in their relationships with their schools has been undergoing rapid change as students have sought judicial relief when subjected to disciplinary action by universities. The courts have, in recent years, applied constitutional standards in reviewing the action of university officials with respect to the form of student conduct regulations, student expression, and disciplinary proceedings in the tax-supported university. Judicial abstention was once the rule, historically based upon a number of varying theories. Attendance at a university was once regarded as a "privilege," and regulation of student action has been upheld on this theory as well as those of "in loco parentis" and "contract.

An administrator's actions can no longer be defended on the basis that he stands in the place of a parent, or that school attendance is a mere "privilege" which can be revoked at will.