The Second District Court of Appeal of California [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] 2-1 Wednesday that public colleges and universities have no duty to protect students from violence committed by other students on campus. The dispute arose after University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) [website] student Katherine Rosen was attacked by another student during a chemistry laboratory. The facts allege that UCLA was aware that the attacker, Damon Thompson, suffered symptoms indicative of schizophrenia disorder and had breached its duty of care to Rosen by failing to protect her from Thompson’s foreseeable violent action. The appeals court granted summary judgment finding that a university has, “no general duty to protect its students from the criminal acts of other students.” The court relied on state law precedent and concluded that Rosen’s status as a student did not constitute a special relationship with UCLA such that the university was required to protect her from other students. In a dissenting opinion, Presiding Justice Dennis Purless noted that the university’s promotional materials proclaimed a commitment to, “a safe and respectful learning environment” and would have found a duty to protect student’s safety at least while in the classroom.

The rights of students as adult and voluntary attendees of colleges and universities continue to be disputed. The free speech rights of students on college campuses garnered attention in 2014 due to a racist chant performed by fraternity members of the Oklahoma University, which led to discussions [JURIST op-eds] of “free speech zones” on public university campuses. The rights of student athletes are also disputed and in September the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled [JURIST report] that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) violated antitrust laws by limiting what compensation student athletes can receive. In August the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) declined to assert jurisdiction [JURIST report] over whether Northwestern University football players can form a union, overturning its 2014 decision which recognized the players as university employees.