Offers brief summaries of upcoming Supreme Court cases that have implications for education, including two cases involving religion, affirmative action, and school policy regarding employees and students who have Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or carry AIDS antibodies. (DMM)

This is the 21st in a series of yearly updates of judicial decision summaries for case law related to elementary and secondary education issues. One can use previous and future editions to track decisions on appeal or to see trends in case law. The cases included, with a few exceptions, were selected from court decisions found in federal and…

Legal and practical considerations are discussed concerning whether school systems should participate in the nationwide class action suit against asbestos manufactureres or file suit on their own. Other topics discussed include grooming rules in sports, unnecessary litigation, and immunity from civil rights lawsuits for school officials. (TE)

Examines Supreme Court decisions in two cases (Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan, United States v. Virginia), addressing the constitutionality of single-sex public colleges. Describes a tool for evaluating equality (the "capability approach") that fills out and lends clarity to underdeveloped aspects of the Court's inquiry. The…

The traditional approach of the courts was to accept as "reasonable cause" for teacher dismissal any conduct that set a bad example for students. This chapter examines a cross-section of cases illustrating recent court decisions in this area and attempts to identify any consistent patterns of adjudication and their implications for school…

Discusses cases involving a nontenured high school coach's firing, state-mandated competency testing, and civil rights of public employees. (KS)

Discusses "National Labor Relations Board v. Yeshiva University," which ruled that college faculty were managers and thereby excluded from collective bargaining, focusing on why the Supreme Court classified professors as managers, whether the Court did something unusual in this case, or whether faculty is simply the unlucky vanguard of a…

This newsletter on collective bargaining in higher education and the professions devotes nearly all this issue to an analysis of a recent Supreme Court decision ruling that licensed nurse practitioners are supervisors who are therefore excluded from collective bargaining protection. The "National Labor Relations Board, Petitioner versus…

The lower court findings and 1995 Supreme Court decision in Podberesky versus Kerwin, concerning the legality of race-exclusive scholarships, is reviewed and its implications on race-based financial aid awards are examined. Issues discussed include current Department of Education guidelines in this context, meeting institutional mandates to…

Analysis of a Supreme Court case, in which university use of academic freedom as a basis for protecting confidential peer-review documents was rejected, explores the general development and this application of academic freedom doctrine. Individual academic freedom is distinguished from institutional autonomy in protection of the free exchange of…

Federal Supreme Court and appellate court decisions in 1996 concerning discrimination against college students are reviewed. Several decisions deal with diversity and the lawfulness of excluding applicants under a diversity rationale or extending preferences to certain classes of applicants to enhance diversity. Other cases of discrimination based…

Explores six court cases in which the court addressed the permissibility of aid to higher education under the federal constitution. While state court interpretations may shift because of "Ex Corde Ecclesiae," the Papal constitution on higher education, it is seen as unlikely that federal or state taxing authorities will revoke…

The section of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (P.L. 94-142) detailing "appropriate education" as a function of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) regulates a variety of educational considerations. Arguing that the IEP is in fact "the hub of the special education wheel," the authors of this document begin…

This legal analysis examines a federal appeals court decision which found three student theses written as graduation requirements and filed in a library did not constitute printed publications and thus bar the patent application of the college professor involved. Institutions are urged to develop comprehensive patent policies for student and…

Public university restriction of faculty expression on the institution's World Wide Web server is discussed based on recent Supreme Court decisions. It is proposed that in some circumstances, content-based restriction of faculty expression is permissible and will not violate the First Amendment academic freedom rights of faculty. (MSE)