Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) was a landmark case in which the U.S. Supreme Court first addressed the merits of a claim on affirmative action, also identified by critics as race-conscious admissions policies or reverse discrimination (the term used in the plaintiff’s complaint), an extremely controversial topic with regard to admissions programs in higher education.
Read the full storyIn Regents of the University of Michigan v. Ewing (1985), the U.S. Supreme Court faced the issue of whether university officials acted arbitrarily in violation of a student’s substantive due process rights when a faculty board dismissed him from a program without granting him an opportunity to retake a medical board examination that he failed.
Read the full storyThe Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which traces its origins in the U.S. government’s efforts to provide rehabilitative services to military veterans after World War I, was the first civil rights law explicitly ensuring the rights of individuals with disabilities to employment and services.
Read the full storyStudent expressive rights in higher education reflect the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Tinker v. Des Moines Community School District (1969).
Read the full storyReligious colleges and universities can be distinguished from nonsectarian private institutions by their commitment to religious rituals, traditions, and/or core religious beliefs.
Read the full storyActing in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s judgment in Employment Division, Department of Human Resources v. Smith (1990), Congress enacted the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in 1993 pursuant to the Necessary and Proper Clause in the federal Constitution.
Read the full storyIn Roemer v. Board of Public Works of Maryland (1976), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a program from Maryland that made public funds available to religiously affiliated institutions of higher education.
Read the full storyIn Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia (1995), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the actions of university officials in denying funding to help pay for the publishing costs of Wide Awake: A Christian Perspective at the University of Virginia constituted viewpoint discrimination in violation of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.
Read the full storyRumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (2006) concerned a constitutional challenge to the Solomon Amendment, a modification in a federal statute that required the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to deny funding to institutions of higher education that refused to give military representatives access and assistance for recruiting purposes.
Read the full storyThe history of institutions of higher education includes the evolution of single-sex colleges and universities.
Read the full storySlochower v. Board of Higher Education of New York City (1956) stands for the legal proposition that laws pertaining to public employees, including faculty members at public colleges and universities, cannot inferentially treat employees’ assertions of Fifth Amendment privilege not to speak for fear of self-incrimination as automatically equivalent to legal wrongdoing.
Read the full storyIn Southeastern Community College v. Davis (1979), the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) for the first time.
Read the full storyThe scheduling of athletic competitions and practices in higher education is addressed by U.S. federal law as well as institutional policies of intercollegiate athletics programs.
Read the full storyAs part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” initiative, the U.S. Congress passed, and he signed into law, the Higher Education Act of 1965, authorizing federal student financial aid programs including the Educational Opportunity Grant Program and the Federal Insured Student Loan Program, better known as the Guaranteed Student Loan Program (GSL).
Read the full storyThe extent to which religious colleges and universities can receive government aid is evaluated under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
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