Law Commons^™

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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. …