Contract liability in the student-university relationship: Case law implications for university policies

This study is a survey of case law decided between 1986 and 2000 on issues of contract liability in the student-university relationship. The major sources of data of this research include the appellate court decisions of the federal and state courts. District court decisions, law reviews, and law journals were also used as supplementary or secondary sources. The court cases utilized in this research were selected using the Lexis-Nexis computer search system, “Shepardized” using the Shepherd's Citations, and categorized based on their themes.; The results of this research show that student-university contract claims mainly resulted from three sources from 1986 to 2000. The results also substantiate the conclusion that the courts continue to follow many of their traditional standards and principles in adjudicating student-university contract claims. At the same time, the courts have also demonstrated an increasing willingness and effort to better balance the competing interests of stakeholders involved in the student-university relationship, which is clearly visible from the increasing use of some principles and standards.; The results of this research have significant implications for university policies and practices, which can be summarized as follows. (1) Colleges and universities are likely to expand their policies and procedures to provide adequate mechanisms for dealing with student claims and complaints internally. (2) Colleges and universities are likely to educate their employees to strictly follow their institutions' policies and procedures in their dealings with students. (3) University catalogs and handbooks are more likely to have more detailed information regarding issues in the three areas from which major student-university contract claims can arise. (4) An increasing number of colleges and universities may be forced to take specific measures to reduce potential liability risks in the student-university relationship. (5) Colleges and universities may be forced to review and refine their university policies and procedures on a regular basis. (6) Colleges and universities may attempt to integrate more ethical and moral elements into their policies and procedures to balance between their pursuit of educational goals and their effort to reduce contract liability risks.