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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif">FYI….<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Jeffrey C. Silvertooth, Ph.D.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Associate Dean
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Director of Extension and Economic Development<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Division of Agriculture, Life, & Veterinary Sciences, and Cooperative Extension<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Forbes 301<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">University of Arizona<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Tucson, Arizona 85721-0036<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">520-621-7205</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> Burgess, Shane C - (shaneburgess) <sburgess@cals.arizona.edu>
<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, February 24, 2020 8:00 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Mclain, Jean - (mclainj) <mclainj@email.arizona.edu>; Viesselmann, Lisa - (lviesselmann) <lviesselmann@email.arizona.edu>; McCarthy, Fiona M - (fionamcc) <fionamcc@email.arizona.edu>; Baltrus, David A - (baltrus) <baltrus@email.arizona.edu>; Rutledge,
Bethany S - (rutledge) <rutledge@cals.arizona.edu>; Rutherford, Janis KM - (jmathias) <jmathias@email.arizona.edu>; Chorover, Jon - (chorover) <chorover@email.arizona.edu>; Farrell-Poe, Kathryn L - (kittfp) <kittfp@email.arizona.edu>; Going, Scott B - (going)
<going@email.arizona.edu>; Jenks, Matthew - (jenksm) <jenksm@email.arizona.edu>; Stock, S. Patricia - (spstock) <spstock@email.arizona.edu>; Rutledge, Bethany S - (rutledge) <rutledge@cals.arizona.edu>; Scaramella, Laura V - (scaramella) <scaramella@email.arizona.edu>;
Koprowski, John L - (5quirre1) <5quirre1@ag.arizona.edu>; Tabashnik, Bruce E - (tabashnb) <BruceT@cals.arizona.edu>; Thompson, Gary D - (gdthomps) <GaryT@ag.arizona.edu>; Torres, Robert M - (rtorres1) <rtorres1@email.arizona.edu>; Walworth, Jim - (jlw1) <Walworth@ag.arizona.edu>;
Antin, Parker B - (pba) <pba@email.arizona.edu>; Silvertooth, Jeffrey C - (silverto) <Silver@ag.arizona.edu>; Ratje, Jeffrey M - (jmratje) <jmratje@email.arizona.edu>; Staten, Michael E - (statenm) <statenm@email.arizona.edu>; Antin, Parker B - (pba) <pba@email.arizona.edu>;
Farrell-Poe, Kathryn L - (kittfp) <kittfp@email.arizona.edu>; Heather - Roberts-Wrenn (hrobertswrenn); Silvertooth, Jeffrey C - (silverto) <Silver@ag.arizona.edu>; Fitzsimmons, Kevin - (kevfitz) <kevfitz@ag.arizona.edu>; Rahr, Matt - (rahr) <rahr@ag.arizona.edu>;
Ratje, Jeffrey M - (jmratje) <jmratje@email.arizona.edu>; Rutledge, Bethany S - (rutledge) <rutledge@cals.arizona.edu>; Staten, Michael E - (statenm) <statenm@email.arizona.edu><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Liability Everywhere Why college lawyers will be working overtime<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D">Everyone, please see the recent article from the CHE. I have sent it to you for two reasons. Firstly for your general information and secondly so you can see the things mentioned in the article
for which you have responsibility, and some of which that are not mentioned that you have responsibility (such as research compliance, fraud etc). Please reach out to me and/or Jeffrey if you feel you need OGC advice—our need for professional advice is not
going away anytime soon and risk awareness and assessment will become a more important part of your jobs (many of you know this already).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D">One good rule to follow is to always get your processes done right.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D">Regards<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D">Shane<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:#0C234B">Shane C. Burgess</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#767676"><br>
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#767676">Vice President for Agriculture, Life and Veterinary Sciences, and Cooperative Extension Charles-Sander Dean of the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#767676"><br>
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#767676">THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#767676"><br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#767676">Forbes Building, Room 306 | 1140 E. South Campus Drive<br>
P.O. Box 210036 | Tucson, AZ 85721-0036<br>
Office: 520-621-7621<br>
</span><a href="mailto:sburgess@cals.arizona.edu"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#767676;text-decoration:none">sburgess@cals.arizona.edu</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#767676"><br>
</span><a href="https://alvsce.arizona.edu"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#8B0015;text-decoration:none">alvsce.arizona.edu</span></b></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#767676"><br>
</span><a href="https://cals.arizona.edu"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#8B0015;text-decoration:none">cals.arizona.edu</span></b></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#767676"><br>
</span><a href="https://twitter.com/UAAgLifeVetExt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#8B0015;text-decoration:none">twitter</span></a><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#8B0015"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#8B0015"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#1F3864">The University of Arizona is located statewide on the ancestral homelands of indigenous peoples.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#767676"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Liability Everywhere</span><span style="color:#1F497D">:
</span><span style="color:black">Why college lawyers will be working overtime</span><span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">By Alexander C. Kafka February 16, 2020 PREMIUM<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Martin Leon Barreto for The Chronicle<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Colleges will have to tighten their belts amid the next recession and a subsequent mid-decade enrollment drop of roughly 15 percent. But one place they might not want to cut is their general-counsel offices.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">That’s because on top of a widening list of free-speech, mental-health, regulatory, and other legal concerns, the forthcoming era of austerity will usher in a slew of new issues.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">"I don’t think we’ve ever had to cope with the level of rightsizing we’re about to in higher education," says Peter F. Lake, a higher-education-law expert at Stetson University. Tongue only slightly in cheek, he
calls what’s coming the "edupocalypse."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">TAKEAWAYS<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">No Quiet on the Legal Front<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Downsizing will create a slew of new liability, litigation, and contract problems.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Whether a case concerns abuse, financial oversight, medical issues, or antitrust claims, it is increasingly likely to take the form of a class action.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Colleges are caught in society’s cultural and political crossfire, and vulnerable to record-setting jury judgments.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Courts are swinging back to in loco parentis views of colleges’ responsibility for students.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Higher education is in for the kind of shakeout big business experienced in the 1980s, he says, with closings, mergers, and personnel suits among the resulting legal shocks.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Those rightsizing burdens will only add to a variety of recent cases testing the range of colleges’ responsibility and culpability. And across the spectrum, increased litigation and starkly rising jury awards are
leading, in turn, to painful liability-insurance premiums that hit colleges squarely in the wallet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Consider the $32-million defamation verdict against Oberlin College in a case brought by a nearby bakery. Ostensibly triggered by a shoplifting incident, that case involved students’ subsequent statements, administrators’
and faculties’ responses to those statements, and — as The Chronicle has detailed — a general town-gown culture clash. While the size of the jury’s award was jaw-dropping, experts say it isn’t out of line with awards in other industries, and colleges better
get used to their vulnerability to such judgments.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Says Scott Schneider, a specialist in higher-education law, a partner in the Austin office of Husch Blackwell, and an instructor at Tulane University’s School of Law: "People have hard and fast opinions about colleges
and universities, and in some communities these are not popular institutions. … Some lawyers and juries will really try to stick it to an institution they think is out of touch."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">And class action suits are on the rise. Corporations in 2018 spent almost $2.5 billion defending against them. Colleges already face a litany of class actions — most visibly in sports abuse scandals like those
at Michigan State, Ohio State, and Pennsylvania State Universities. But class actions can also stem from questions of financial responsibility — unpaid overtime, for instance, or poorly managed retirement-account investments. They might relate to cybersecurity,
discrimination allegations in faculty layoffs or pay; antitrust claims regarding tuition, admissions, athletics, or hiring; or medical issues like concussion, mold, or other sick-building situations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">“These are not popular institutions. Some lawyers and juries will really try to stick it to an institution they think is out of touch.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">"Litigation trends are incredibly hostile to higher education," says Lake. And class actions are litigation on steroids.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Here, according to college general counsels, higher-education lawyers, and other experts, are a half-dozen other trends you’re likely to see over the next five years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">In Loco Parentis<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">More and more, parents look to colleges to keep their children safe and well. When tragedy strikes, they take those dashed expectations to the courthouse.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">In a $56-million suit filed in 2019 by the parents of Lauren McCluskey, a slain University of Utah student and track star, Matt and Jill McCluskey argue that university police officers didn’t respond properly to
stalking, abuse, and intimidation by their daughter’s angry ex-boyfriend. The university’s president has said that a review, although finding fault with campus police and housing officials, "does not offer any reason to believe that this tragedy could have
been prevented." McCluskey’s family has hired a former state Supreme Court chief justice to represent them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">The family of Olivia Shea Paregol, a student at the University of Maryland, claims that college officials did not quickly and properly alert students to the spread of adenovirus in moldy dorm rooms, resulting in
Paregol’s delayed treatment and subsequent death in 2018. An outside review determined that the university followed protocols but also identified areas of weakness in its response and recommended changes in procedure. The family has filed notice of intent
to sue.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Describing courts’ movement toward holding institutions responsible for students’ safety, lawyers sometimes cite the $41.7-million verdict against the Hotchkiss School of Salisbury, Conn. A jury awarded that amount
to the family of Cara Munn, who at age 15 contracted debilitating encephalitis from a tick bite while hiking during a school trip to China.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">That case concerned a minor, which most college students aren’t. But rulings regarding student suicides at Iowa State University and MIT also nudged liability at least partially back toward the university after
a half-century of movement in the other direction.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">In the same vein, colleges are watching a case concerning a Rhode Island School of Design student who, in 2016, was raped by a classmate during RISD-sponsored study abroad in Ireland. The students’ doors had no
locks, and U.S. district court Chief Judge John J. McConnell is allowing the case to go to trial.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">He cited "a special relationship" between RISD and the victim that should have assured her of safe housing. A similar incident had been reported to RISD during a study program in Rome three years earlier, and,
given that, the court found that the danger in the Ireland program could have been anticipated.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">New Title IX Regulations<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">If proposed Education Department rules take effect, among them will be required cross-examination of both accuser and accused during college hearings in sexual assault and harassment cases. That, says one university’s
general counsel, would be "a sea change in how universities have approached student discipline."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Betsy DeVos, the secretary of education, argues that the new rules would restore balance in a system she thinks is tilted unfairly against the accused. Critics say the rules would impose courtroomlike procedures
in an inappropriate context. At any rate, they would very likely be expensive.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Glenn C. Altschuler, an American-studies professor and former dean at Cornell University, and President David Wippman of Hamilton College predict in a recent op-ed for The Hill that wealthy students will want their
own lawyers, and poorer ones will be assigned college-appointed advisers, who will also probably be lawyers. And even more lawyers will be needed to oversee the process.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Mental Health<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">A class-action suit in 2018 alleged that Stanford University was inappropriately forcing students with mental illness to take involuntary leaves of absence. That was settled in 2019 with a revamped leave policy
that is considered a model for other colleges.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">But as an increasing number of students enroll with histories of mental-health problems and medications, many related issues remain legally murky, and the courts will have to help sort them out, says Laura Horne,
the chief program officer for Active Minds, which promotes mental-health education and awareness for students.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">"A lot of campuses, I think, would like more clarity on their role and responsibility for providing care for students and preventing suicide," she says.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Should students with suicidal ideation be allowed to live on campus? Do Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act protections allow for any communication with parents about students in crisis?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Courts might weigh in, too, on best practices for ensuring that peer support is effective and used only when more traditional clinical services aren’t needed. They could help establish the best use and supervision
of graduate assistants with master’s degrees acting as counselors when not enough clinical psychologists are available.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Alumni as a New Investor Class<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Stetson University’s Peter Lake, an expert in higher-education law, foresees the coming contraction of higher education potentially giving rise to alumni as new activist stakeholders.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">What activist investors were to 1980s business, he says, alumni could be to failing colleges. In expansion of the “corporate university” over the last four decades, he says, “higher education chose a capitalist
path, for better or for worse.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">“If that’s the game you’re going to play, from experience with other capital markets, you can kind of predict what will come of all this: very painful, very litigious activism.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">He thinks it’s possible that we will see a Gordon Gekko approach to higher education, he says, referring to the ruthless financier played by Michael Douglas in Oliver Stone’s 1987 film Wall Street.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">For decades, he says, universities have been managed with too little regard for their primary stakeholders: students and alumni. The result has sometimes been imprudent growth and mission drift. Alumni can influence
and donate to the enterprise, but they don’t own it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">In some circumstances, Lake predicts, that will effectively change. At institutions in financial distress, particularly historically prestigious ones whose reputations matter to their graduates’ careers, alumni
could become the new primary investors. That could take the form of powerful 501(c)(3) foundations with a big thumb on leadership and management decisions. Alumni will want to protect the vitality of their undergraduate or professional degrees for occupational
as well as, perhaps, sentimental reasons.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">They will be practical minded, Lake anticipates, sacrificing underused facilities like libraries, for instance, pushing for 24/7 services that fit students’ busy lifestyles, and demanding efficient, streamlined,
prioritized academic offerings over auxiliary services like dining and dorms, much less the iconic lazy-river-type recreational perks.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Lake terms this possible governance approach, guided by lawyers and investment bankers, the “alumni cooperative model.” — Alexander C. Kafka<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Overwhelmed by demand for counseling services, colleges are experimenting with self-help and teletherapy apps that are sometimes anonymous or that connect students with counselors — via chat, voice, or video —
in other states and even other countries. The growing range of therapeutic options gives students more portals to seek help, whether they need reassurance during a rare midnight panic attack or a long-term therapist for intensive treatment of chronic illness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">The new tools, however, also increase the spectrum of liability should situations go wrong. Where does responsibility fall, for instance, when teletherapists don’t connect with the student’s local emergency personnel
fast enough to avert a suicide?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Marijuana<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Pot is legal for medical purposes in 33 states and the District of Columbia, and for recreational purposes in 11 states plus the District, but federal law prohibits its use, and colleges that accept federal funds
are caught in the middle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Challenges arise in medical programs in which students are routinely tested for drugs. In Arizona, a diagnostic-medical-sonography student was expelled from Gateway Community College for using marijuana, with which
she treats chronic pain from polycystic ovary syndrome. In Connecticut, a nursing student was barred from clinical medical rounds at Sacred Heart University after she tested positive for marijuana. Both students have sued their colleges.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">One university general counsel tells The Chronicle that another challenge could occur under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. A punished student could start by filing a complaint with the Office for
Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education, which would presumably reject the claim because of the federal ban. Then the student could bring a private "right of action" against the university to allow use of the drug. That might force a closer examination
of the situation by the courts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">#MeToo Ricochets<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Colleges are caught in the middle, too, when it comes to personnel who leave after being investigated for impropriety. That situation is becoming more common in sexual-assault and harassment cases especially.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Here’s a representative scenario: An employee leaves or is let go during or after a Title IX investigation. He is on the short list for a job at another college. That college asks the first college to confirm that
the former employee wasn’t the subject of an investigation into harassment or sexual violence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">If the former employer says there was no such investigation, it is potentially passing on to another institution a serial offender the way some church dioceses passed along child-abusing priests. But if the employer
says yes, particularly if the investigation was still in the allegation stage, the college could be accused of defamation. It’s a lose-lose situation for the college being asked, and it’s becoming more common.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Similarly, 35 states and more than 150 cities and counties have passed "ban the box" legislation that prohibits asking job applicants early in the process if they have been convicted of felonies. That can keep
employers more open minded, at least before subsequent background checks, and give rehabilitated criminals a fresh start.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">But colleges would also, naturally, like to know if they are bringing onto campus a potential predator. If a job is initially offered and then rescinded on the basis of the background check, the college could be
accused of discrimination. But if it goes through with the hire, it is potentially liable if things go wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Closures, Mergers, and Downsizing<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Higher education has been overbuilt during the last 40 years, and it is in for a serious contraction. Stetson’s Peter F. Lake points to just some of the possible ramifications:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">As colleges shed personnel, all the oft-ignored minutiae in those faculty handbooks might suddenly become very important. Enrollment plunges won’t necessarily suffice as rationale for layoffs, and the closures
of departments, centers, and schools will be second-guessed and fought tooth and nail.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">With layoffs will come a flurry of equal-opportunity claims on grounds of ageism, sexism, and other bigotries. Some of those claims will be legitimate, some won’t. But they’ll all require review by colleges’ general-counsel
offices.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">A common-sense way to defray expenses is to lease space in unused or underused buildings, or to sell them outright. But the donors who paid for those buildings, to be used for favored, specific purposes, "may rattle
a saber and try to block the sale," Lake says. Many donor understandings are "handled with handshakes and backroom deals," but when philanthropists’ purposes are undermined they can become a whole lot less chummy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Similarly, some of those buildings were backed by bond issues. When colleges try to sell them or use them for purposes other than originally intended, the bond holders may well challenge those moves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">With budget slashing, student services will face cuts. Those might include mental-health counseling, or support for ethnic and racial minority organizations or LGBTQ groups. Claims on the grounds of social-justice
or disability rights could result.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">With the closure of programs, schools, or entire institutions, students and alumni could sue trustees and administrators for the erosion of a college’s or university’s brand. That will be more likely to happen
with more-prestigious institutions, especially ones with renowned, or formerly renowned, professional schools. On the bright side, alumni could invest in and help save an institution. The flip side of that, however, is that it would entail governance wars
— essentially hostile takeover bids by alumni.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">In those battles, what is the value of a college facing liquidation? As with old shopping malls, Lake says, the buildings are functionally useless. The real value will be what alumni are willing to pay to maintain
the prestige of their educational backgrounds. Expect the involvement of lawyers and investment bankers as alumni perform the equivalent of buying back their own stock. Expect, too, posturing on both sides. "I have seen people fight over carcasses," Lake says.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">As we’ve seen, an ever more prominent motif in these scenarios is the no-win situation. Regulators want more control; faculty chafe under that control. Assault victims want empowerment and to be treated with sensitivity;
their accused want rebuttal and proceedings that aren’t stacked against them. Colleges want to know the backgrounds of those they hire but risk suits if they comment on those they fire.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">And so on.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">For lawyers, the current and expected climate is good for business but sometimes bruising to the spirit. From a college’s administrative standpoint, it is expensive and harrowing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><img border="0" width="80" height="64" style="width:.8333in;height:.6666in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image003.png@01D5E821.85DF33E0" alt="E5742DFE"></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:#0C234B">Shane C. Burgess</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#767676"><br>
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#767676">Vice President for Agriculture, Life and Veterinary Sciences, and Cooperative Extension Charles-Sander Dean of the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#767676"><br>
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#767676">THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#767676"><br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#767676">Forbes Building, Room 306 | 1140 E. South Campus Drive<br>
P.O. Box 210036 | Tucson, AZ 85721-0036<br>
Office: 520-621-7621<br>
</span><a href="mailto:sburgess@cals.arizona.edu"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#767676;text-decoration:none">sburgess@cals.arizona.edu</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#767676"><br>
</span><a href="https://alvsce.arizona.edu"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#8B0015;text-decoration:none">alvsce.arizona.edu</span></b></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#767676"><br>
</span><a href="https://cals.arizona.edu"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#8B0015;text-decoration:none">cals.arizona.edu</span></b></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#767676"><br>
</span><a href="https://twitter.com/UAAgLifeVetExt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#8B0015;text-decoration:none">twitter</span></a><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#8B0015"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#8B0015"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#1F3864">The University of Arizona is located statewide on the ancestral homelands of indigenous peoples.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#767676"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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