Law Commons^™

The Missing Piece Of The Puzzle: The Intersection Of Race And Special Education, Tsega Zewdneh Shiferaw

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

The privileges allotted to Americans cannot be compared to any other country’s citizens. Americans have the liberty of saying what they want, thinking what they want, and acting freely in public. Nebiyat Shiferaw (“Nebiyat”) is a thirty-year-old African American man who is unable to speak and live independently because he has autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (“ASD”). Nebiyat does not experience the same liberties as most Americans; he has gone through special education programs and has overcome discrimination, not because of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”), but because of his parents advocating for him. As a …

Title, University Of The District Of Columbia Law Review

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Removing Police From Schools Using State Law Heightened Scrutiny, Christina Payne-Tsoupros

Journal Articles

This Article argues that school police, often called school resource officers, interfere with the state law right to education and proposes using the constitutional right to education under state law as a mechanism to remove police from schools. Disparities in school discipline for Black and brown children are well-known. After discussing the legal structures of school policing, this Article uses the Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) theoretical framework developed by Subini Annamma, David Connor, and Beth Ferri to explain why police are unacceptable in schools. Operating under the premise that school police are unacceptable, this Article then analyzes mechanisms to …

Testimony In Support Of B23-0887, The "Expanding Student Access To Period Products Act Of 2020" Before The Committee Of The Whole And The Committee On Education, Marcy L. Karin, Galina M. Abdel Aziz

D.C. Council Testimony

No abstract provided.

Wealth Accumulation At Elite Colleges, Endowment Taxation, And The Unlikely Story Of How Donald Trump Got One Thing Right, Mae C. Quinn

Journal Articles

President Donald Trump has· declared war on immigrants, diversity, and those who dare to dissent. Rooted in resentments about who people are, where they were born, and what they believe, these executive-led assaults are dangerous developments in the modern era. However, in the course of Trump's many retrograde tirades, he has somehow managed to get one thing right-too many elite private colleges in the United States, considered nonprofit entities, have amassed way too much wealth. This Article recounts this unlikely story, including how the Trump Administration's 2017 endowment tax could work to advance diversity. The new endowment tax penalizes private …

In The Room Where It Happens: Including The "Public's Will" In Judicial Review Of Agency Action, Twinette L. Johnson

Journal Articles

In the context of higher education reform, the people need to be in the important rooms where the decisions are being made. One such room is the courtroom. This essay elaborates on this premise, previously written about in an article I wrote entitled, 50,000 Voices Can’t Be Wrong, But Courts Might Be: How Chevron’s Existence Contributes to Retrenching the Higher Education Act. That article was the second in a series of three articles on the retrenchment of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (“HEA”) using the William Eskridge and John Ferejohn statutory entrenchment model.

Student Protests And Academic Freedom In An Age Of #Blacklivesmatter, Philip Lee

Journal Articles

Student activism for racial equity and inclusion is on a historic rise on college and university campuses across the country. Students are reminding us that Black lives matter. They are bringing attention to the ways in which the normal operation of the legal system creates racial and other inequalities. They are critiquing the ways in which their experiences and perspectives are pushed to the margins in classrooms, on campuses, and in society.

In urging for university policies that allow for such activism to be moments of teaching and learning for all involved, I argue in this Article that student academic …

Reimagining Accountability: A Move Toward Re-Entrenching The Higher Education Act, Twinette L. Johnson

Journal Articles

In 1964, while delivering his "Great Society Speech"' at the University of Michigan, President Lyndon B. Johnson stated that, "[e]ach year, more than 100,000 high school graduates, with proven ability, do not enter college because they cannot afford it." 2 In 1964, there were 1,037,000 students enrolled in college, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). 3 By 1965, President Johnson signed into law the Higher Education Act4 (HEA or the Act). "[T]he Act sought to bridge the ... gap for [economically and socially disadvantaged] citizens ... by providing [them] the means to pursue higher education." 5 The …

Navigating The Unknown: Why Scotus Ought To Again Affirm That Achieving True Diversity In Higher Education Is A Compelling Interest That Satisfies Strict Scrutiny When It Rehears Fisher, Kenrick Frank Roberts

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

On June 29th, 2015, the Supreme Court agreed to once again hear oral arguments in Fisher. This decision is troubling to supporters of Affirmative Action policies because of the Court's indistinguishable motivation for hearing the case a second time. This Note argues that theCourt must continue to allow race-based considerations in higher education admissions policies. Part I takes a look at the beginnings of affirmative action and the effects of past discrimination on the educational attainment of minorities. Part II charts the case law related to affirmative action in higher education. Part III tracks how the meaning of narrowly-tailored has …

The Social Maladjustment Exclusion: Leaving A Category Of Students Behind And The Problem With State And Judicial Interpretation Of Congressional Intent, Carolyn Mason

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Since its inception in 1975, controversy surrounding the Social Maladjustment Exclusion has plagued its understnding. This paper delves deeper into the controversy and explores jurisdictional and nationwide patterns in the judicial interpretation of the social maladjustment exclusion. This analysis further demonstrates how the evolving interpretation of social maladjustment is out of touch with the needs of vulnerable youth in our schools and society, and may be based, in large measure, on a small group of non-representative plaintiffs.

Expanding The Schoolhouse Gate: Public Schools (K-12) And The Regulation Of Cyberbullying, Philip Lee

Journal Articles

Cyberbullying has received increasing societal attention in the aftermath of the tragic suicides of some of its youngest and most vulnerable victims — 15-year-old Phoebe Prince from Massachusetts, 13-year-old Ryan Halligan from Vermont, 12-year-old Sarah Lynn Butler from Arkansas, 15-year-old Grace McComas from Maryland, and 12-year-old Rebecca Ann Sedwick from Florida.

In this Article, I hope to provide states and their schools better guidance on how to effectively regulate cyberbullying that originates off campus. Specifically, I aim to make four unique contributions to the conversation.

First and foremost, I argue that cyberbullying is so harmful in and of itself that …

Reversing The School-To-Prison Pipeline: Initial Findings From The District Of Columbia On The Efficacy Of Training And Mobilizing Court-Appointed Lawyers To Use Special Education Advocacy On Behalf Of At-Risk Youth, Kylie Scholefield, Joseph B. Tulman

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

This article will describe the implementation and analyze the results of an attorney training and mobilizing project of the Juvenile and Special Education Law Clinic (Clinic) 1 of the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC-DCSL).2 This project was premised in part on the notion that many of the children caught in the District of Columbia's school-to-prison pipeline have disabilities that significantly affect their ability to learn, and that many of these children therefore encounter, more than other children, conflict with school personnel and failure in school. These children disproportionately repeat grades, face school …

Are There Too Many Due Process Cases? An Examination Of Jurisdictions With Relatively High Rates Of Special Education Hearings, Andrew A. Feinstein, Michele Kule-Korgood, Joseph B. Tulman

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Congress enacted, and President Ford signed, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) in 1975 to ensure that children with disabilities had access to a free appropriate public education. As the Supreme Court emphasized in Smith v. Robinson:[T]he Act establishes an enforceable substantive right to a free appropriate public education. See Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson Central School Dist. v.Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, (1982). See also 121 Cong. Rec.37417 (1975) (statement of Sen. Schweiker: "It can no longer be the policy of the Government to merely establish an unenforceable goal requiring all children to be in school. [The …

The Case Of Dixon V. Alabama: From Civil Rights To Students' Rights And Back Again, Philip Lee

Journal Articles

On February 25, 1960, African American students from Alabama State College participated in a sit-in at a segregated lunch grill at the Montgomery County Courthouse. The lunch grill refused to serve the students and ordered them to leave. The students left and went to the courthouse corridor, where they remained for an hour before going back to campus.

When Alabama State College learned of the students’ actions, it summarily expelled them without notice or hearing. In expelling the students, the college relied on Alabama State Board of Education regulations that allowed it to expel students for “conduct unbecoming a student …

Going Back To The Drawing Board: Re-Entrenching The Higher Education Act To Restore Its Historical Policy Of Access, Twinette L. Johnson

Journal Articles

This article explores both the historical entrenchment of the Higher Education Act (“HEA” or “the Act”) and ongoing attempts to retrench it. In it, I argue that Congress should return the HEA to its historical roots and enact reauthorizing legislation that will set the course for re-entrenching the Act and its historical policy. This re-entrenching will properly set the focus of the Act on providing widespread higher education access by creating and implementing new pathways (funding and otherwise) to that access.

In the article, I discuss the entrenchment of the HEA into American culture in an effort to understand the …

The Fallout From Our Blackboard Battlegrounds: A Call For Withdrawal And A New Way Forward, Mae C. Quinn

Journal Articles

In 1973, Time magazine described a national school system under siege.2 In its article "Blackboard Battlegrounds: A Question of Survival," Time reported that troubled urban youth were rejecting education, terrorizing teachers, and turning the country's schoolyards into battlefields. 3 Claiming that simple survival in the face of such insurgency had become the top priority of school administrators, the article quoted one educator as stating, "'You can't teach anything unless you have an atmosphere without violence."' Despite concerns about a culture of aggression and hostility within the education setting, the article went on to laud new national experiments in increased school-based …

The "Asian" Category In Mcas Achievement Gap Tracking: Time For A Change, Philip Lee

Journal Articles

Data gathered on Asian American students in public school by the Massachusetts Department of Education are aggregated into one general “Asian” category, which may skew the results, both perpetuating an enduring myth and masking any true gaps that may exist for certain Asian American subgroups. As explored in this article, achievement gap tracking for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System is an apt example.

In this article, I posit that this aggregation of many subgroups into one general “Asian” category perpetuates the myth of Asian Americans as a model minority, while downplaying any achievement gap that exists for certain Asian American …

No Child Left Behind: Disincentives To Focus Instruction On Students Above The Passing Threshold, Christina Payne Tsoupros

Journal Articles

As a result of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), schools place a great emphasis on standardized testing. Students at risk of failure are identified for additional instruction. This is aligned with the adequacy (versus equity) framework of school finance litigation, which seeks to bring the bottom up to a certain minimum level. Under the adequacy ideology, the focus is on achieving a minimum threshold of proficiency. In low performing schools where a high percentage of students are at risk of failing the test, a focus on the minimum creates disincentives to work with students performing at or above …

The Status Of Part-Time Evening Programs?: Transcript Of Proceedings, Katherine S, Broderick

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Why The No Child Left Behind Act Needs To Be Restructured To Accomplish Its Goals And How To Do It, Gershon M. Ratner

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

The No Child Left Behind Act ("NCLB" or the "Act") 1 has created a once in a lifetime opportunity to improve American public education. NCLB has embraced vital goals for the new Information Age: academic proficiency for virtually all public school students and elimination of the severe racial/income "achievement gap." The Act provides four pillars on which states and localities might build a bridge to reach the goals: higher standards; periodic testing to measure the extent to which the standards are being met; disaggregating test results by student subgroup; and reporting to the public. The critical question is "how to …

Charter Schools And Special Education: Part Of The Solution Or Part Of The Problem?, Rebekah Gleason

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)1 provides each child with a disability the opportunity to receive educational benefit in an appropriate program. The individual needs of the child drive the often resource intensive programs. On the other hand, public charter schools focus on providing more choices for education by aiming to do a better job with less money. Public Charter Schools accountability for progress and fiscal responsibility means that schools focus on doing more with less resources for the school as a whole. Public Charter schools' mission of unique innovative instruction, free from local and state regulations that would …

Changing The Narrative: Convincing Courts To Distinguish Between Misbehavior And Criminal Conduct In School Referral Cases, Marsha L. Levick, Robert G. Schwartz

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Affirmative Action And Land-Grant Universities In The Millennium: When Will We Fulfill The Original Promise?, Christine L. Jones

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker Make Me A Match: An Insider's Guide To The Faculty Hiring Process, Debra R. Cohen

Journal Articles

This essay analogizes the process of finding a law faculty position to internet dating. Along the way it provides insights into the law faculty hiring process. These insights are based on over a decade of attendance at the "meat market" in various capacities, speaking with hundreds of interviewers and mentoring hundreds of candidates.

Millennium Showdown For Public Interest Law And Non-White Access To Public Higher Education: Wolves Circling At The Henhouse Door, Stephanie Y. Brown

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Institutions of higher education are uniquely positioned to influence the tone and character of justice available in the society. As centers of information and acculturation, colleges, universities, and professional schools determine the next generation of legal innovators and how they will be trained. In an era when aggressive opponents of racial equality indulged by a conservative court impede the gradual progress made possible through affirmative action programs, I believe that legal educators share considerable responsibility for the chronic deficiency of equal access to education plaguing racial minorities in this country. Intoxicated by the rhetoric of public interest and ritualistic tilting …

The Fourth Amendment Standard For Searches Of Students By School Officials: Reasonable Suspicion Or Probable Cause?, Lois Yankowski

Antioch Law Journal

The fourth amendment rights of students subjected to searches by school administrators or teachers has been the subject of much legal debate and confusion.' The Supreme Court has never considered the issue of search and seizure in the schools and has never addressed even the more general question of whether fourth amendment protections apply to juveniles. The lower courts which have examined the school search issue, with one exception,2 have provided students with substantially less fourth amendment protection than adults in non-school environments enjoy. These courts have focused on the in loco parentis status of school officials and have found …

Ill Effects Of A Well-Intentioned Law: The Rights Of The Handicapped Overlooked, Robert L. Burgdorf

Journal Articles

Indiana's Public Law No. 162, which was signed into law in 1972, is an admirable achievement. The statute consolidated and clarified the procedures to be employed by schools in suspending, expelling or excluding students. The rights of students were closely guarded through the clear enumeration of the requirements of due process in this area. Written notice, a relatively formal hearing, the right to be represented by counsel, the right to cross-examine witnesses, a written decision and record of the proceedings, and an appeal procedure are all specifically mandated by the law whenever a child may be suspended, expelled or excluded. …