Academic Deference:A Legal Issue, In Academia vs. the Courts - Research Paper Example

ACADEMIC DEFERENCE Academic Deference: A Legal Issue, In Academia vs. the Courts Word Count: 750 (3 pages) I. Introduction (200 words) Here it willbe attempted to answer and discuss the following questions regarding academic deference: Why is academic deference so important? ?How does academic deference impact academic and higher education? ?Why might a policy be required to address the issue of academic deference? ?What is the impact of academic deference on stakeholders (faculty, students, ?

administrators, etc)? How is academic deference applied in the academic setting, i.e., what might be expected, desired, or be the intended outcome(s)? In answering these questions, one will find that the importance of academic deference cannot be underestimated, as these rules are a key part of learning how to work with colleagues and learn how to foster a sense of collegiality. Collegiality is an important quality that faculty, students, and administrators should all proffer, considering that the academy which consists of people with differing opinions and research, but which is unified together in the pursuit of learning.

Courts may decide if the rules of a school trump the law—the true spirit of academic deference—but truly, a school’s bylaws may ultimately save it from further lawsuits. It is no surprise, then, that lawsuits might be problematic if no suitable rules were established before issues arose. II. Body (500 words) a. Why is academic deference important? (100 words) It is true that courts can refuse to uphold academic policies that are way out of line. According to Gibbs and Blakely (2008), “…courts have read Horowitz as a case whose message has meaning well beyond the context of constitutional due process and academic dismissal” (pp. 178). Academic deference means that students can be dismissed if their case does not fit in with the bylaws of the university, whereby the students would have no complaint whatsoever to bring to the courts.

In that regard, academic deference is an important tool which protects professors and universities from being targets of lawsuits. b. How does academic deference impact academic and higher education? (100 words) When students feel they are left out due to Title IX being violated, if there are certain rules in place, the student basically has no rights to protest the decision made by the university. This is, by all accounts, completely legal. Not only is it legal but it occurs quite often. According to Bickel (2000), “In a nod toward academic deference, [one] district court stated that "[t]he Court cannot delve into the academic decision made by a university when the record does not indicate that the students are substantially similar” (pp. 1325). As such, it is not surprising students sue. c. Why might a policy be required to address this issue?

(75 words) Disabled students are at particular risk for being overlooked in education and for being discriminated against. This is one major reason schools also have academic deference policies. Schools and universities want to ensure they’re not sued. According to Weber (2007), “Courts that give academic deference need to determine how demanding they want to be in finding that the school has a process and that the process fully evaluated the qualifications of the student” (pp. 130). d.

What is the impact of academic deference on stakeholders (faculty, students, ?administrators, etc.)? (50 words) Faculty, students, and administrators alike are all affected by academic deference. Faculty and administrators like academic deference because it gives them all the power to make any rules they want. These rules don’t leave students many legal rights to appeal a school’s internal decisions—even in a court of law. e. How is this issue applied in the academic setting? In other words, what might be expected, desired, or the intended outcome?

(100 words) This issue of academic deference is usually applied in an academic setting when schools want to maintain some sense of control over the rules that dictate policy. Even though their policies may be unconstitutional, a school reserves the right to form its own policies by which students must abide, or face the consequences. According to Kaplin and Lee (2007), “Sometimes requests for deference are framed as claims to institutional autonomy…” (pp. 67). It is not enough for a student to protest an issue; the school’s bylaws must either be illegal or exclusionary to render a student’s protest at all valid. III. Conclusion (125 words) Obviously, academic deference is important for several reasons, the best one being that it protects professors and universities from being subject to frivolous or otherwise baseless lawsuits.

Academic deference is important. It affects academic and higher education in a way that does not allow student recourse for complaint. A policy is most likely required to address the issue, because if not, there would be several students who could complain about the educational services and thus render a school incompetente. The impact is greater on students, who have no legal recourse if academic deference is followed. This issue is applied in the academic setting with regards to legal matters where the university’s bylaws are upheld, and courts cannot do anything to constitutionally interfere with such bylaws.

REFERENCES Bickel, R. (2000). The college administrator and the courts. USA: College Administration Publications. Gibbs, P. & Blakely, E.H. (2008). Gatekeeping in BSW programs. USA: Columbia University Press. Kaplin, W.A., & Lee, B.A. (2007). The law of higher education. USA: Wiley. Weber, M.C. (2007). Understanding disability law. USA: LexisNexis/Matthew Bender.