College students who reside in campus dormitories at public universities have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their dorm rooms that is protected by the fourth amendment; and officials cannot search these rooms for law enforcement purposes without a valid warrant. Non-students, however, have no such reasonable expectation of privacy in…

This paper reviews the application of the Fourth Amendment, which protects persons against unreasonable search and seizure, as it applies to the student-college relationship. The topics discussed in terms of federal and state court decisions include warrantless searches, delegation of authority to conduct searches, notice of identity and purpose…

Examines 15 cases dealing with dormitory searches covering a 31-year period to determine how the Fourth Amendment applies to dormitory searches. The prevailing consensus is that if a university says and thinks it has the right to conduct a search of a room for health, safety, and maintenance reasons, then, in most circumstances, it has this right.…