Legal Issues in Higher Education

Brooke completed this course in Spring 2016 and earned an A for her final grade.

Course Outcomes

Demonstrate an understanding of:

• Explain when to consult with one’s immediate supervisor and campus legal counsel about those matters that may have legal ramifications.
• Act in accordance with federal and state/province laws and institutional policies regarding non-discrimination.
• Describe the governance systems at one’s institution, including the governance structures for faculty, staff and students.
• Describe the system used to govern or coordinate one’s state/province system of higher education, including community college, for-profit, and private higher education.
• Describe the federal and state/province role in higher education.

Demonstrate the ability to understand key legal cases and concepts relevant to administrative practice in higher education and an ability to:

• Explain the differences between public and private higher education with respect to the legal system and what they may mean for students, faculty, and staff at both types of institutions.
• Describe the evolving legal theories that define the student-institution relationship and how they affect professional practice.
• Describe how national constitutions and laws influence the rights that students, faculty, and staff have on public and private college campuses.
• Explain the concepts of risk management and liability reduction strategies.

Demonstrate an understanding of the important legal principles that should be considered when making policy or practice decisions and an ability to:

• Describe how policy is developed in one’s department and institution, as well as the local, state/province and federal levels of government.
• Identify the major policy makers who influence one’s professional practice at the institutional, local, state/province and federal levels of government.
• Identify the internal and external special interest groups that influence policy makers at the department, institutional, local, state/province, and federal levels.
• Describe the public debates surrounding the major policy issues in higher education, including access, affordability, accountability, and quality.

Assignments

Participation

Purpose: Create an original post on Blackboard on discussion board to the prompt provided and reply to three other classmates' postings.

Guidelines: Students will share experiences and knowledge from the assigned readings.

Legal Briefs

Purpose: Write a total of three legal briefs on assigned topics.

Guidelines: The student will demonstrate an ability to summarize primary facts, a concise, well-defined statement of the issue, and the pertinent rationale of the court in support of its answer to the issue.

Midterm Paper

Purpose: Students will explore the concept of Academic Freedom. , the paper shall make an argument for or against the concept of academic freedom in relation to the following areas: faculty, students, and staff. In essence, the paper shall answer whether or not each of these groups have academic freedom and why?

Guidelines: Use peer-reviewed articles, case law, and relevant books.

Legal Issue Paper

Purpose: This 8-10 page paper will include the following information in the analysis: Name and level of Legislation, state if applicable, background of the primary bill sponsors, summary of the law/bill, explanation of the potential impact on the student's campus and within his or her specific department (or department of interest), individual's opinion of the Legislation and impacts, and conclusion which includes the societal impact of the Legislation.

Guidelines: Students will indentify current (in the past three years or less) or pending legislation at the state or federal level. For state level analysis, any state can be used, but apply it as if it is being enacted in your state.