The U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment states: “ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably...
Continue Reading →In 1975, Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), formerly known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, with the goal of ensuring that students with a qualified disability are provided with a Free Appropriate Public...
Continue Reading →For most of the history of college and university promotion and tenure practices, eligible non-tenured faculty could expect that by year 6 or 7 that they would be able to apply for promotion from assistant professor to associate professor...
Continue Reading →Prior to 2014, public school teachers in both Missouri and Kansas enjoyed due process protections against arbitrary suspension or dismissal from employment. That changed in Kansas in 2014 when the Legislature abolished teacher tenure and gave individual school districts the...
Continue Reading →In 2020, the federal Department of Education amended the regulations implementing Title IX, providing more procedural protections for university students facing Title IX misconduct hearings. These new regulations established baseline procedural protections for university students named as respondents in Title...
Continue Reading →Public school students, parents, teachers, administrators and school board members are now finally informed of the rules relating to an attempt by school officials to sanction or punish off-campus student speech which school officials find offensive. On June 23, 2021...
Continue Reading →To students in medical school, dental school, nursing school, pharmacy school, other graduate programs: who have been referred to the Student Progress Committee. Most students do not realize the risks of appearing before a committee that has the power to...
Continue Reading →This week the Kansas Board of Regents voted unanimously to approve a “temporary” policy allowing tenured faculty to be suspended, dismissed or terminated from employment by their respective university. It went into effect immediately and expires at the end of...
Continue Reading →In the past 4 weeks, our firm has received no fewer than 10 calls from parents wanting to “push back” on restrictions on in-school activities or orders for virtual school in lieu of attendance in person. Even one wrestling coach...
Continue Reading →In our work, we see social media impact students in profound ways. We have seen posts to Facebook that request general study tips result in a student’s dismissal for academic dishonesty; we have seen Snapchat messages used as critical evidence...
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