Brown v. Li

• Decision Date: 12 August 2002
• Docket Number: No. 01-55930.,01-55930.
• Citation: 308 F.3d 939
• Parties: Christopher Todd BROWN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Charles LI, in his individual and official capacity as Dean, Graduate Division, University of California Santa Barbara; Henry Yang, in his individual and official capacity as Chancellor, University of California Santa Barbara; Galen Stucky, in his individual and official capacity as Professor of Chemistry and Materials, University of California Santa Barbara; Daniel E. Morse, in his individual capacity and in his official capacity as Professor of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, University of California Santa Barbara; Fred Lange, in his individual and official capacity as Chair of the Materials Department, University of California Santa Barbara; Sarah Pritchard, in her official capacity as Director of the Davidson Library, University of California Santa Barbara, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

308 F.3d 939

Christopher Todd BROWN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Charles LI, in his individual and official capacity as Dean, Graduate Division, University of California Santa Barbara; Henry Yang, in his individual and official capacity as Chancellor, University of California Santa Barbara; Galen Stucky, in his individual and official capacity as Professor of Chemistry and Materials, University of California Santa Barbara; Daniel E. Morse, in his individual capacity and in his official capacity as Professor of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, University of California Santa Barbara; Fred Lange, in his individual and official capacity as Chair of the Materials Department, University of California Santa Barbara; Sarah Pritchard, in her official capacity as Director of the Davidson Library, University of California Santa Barbara, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 01-55930.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted April 9, 2002.

Filed August 12, 2002.

Amended October 24, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Paul L. Hoffman, Schonbrun Desimone Seplow Harris & Hoffman, LLP, Venice, California; and Penelope Glass, Law Offices of Penelope Glass, Los Angeles, CA, for the plaintiff-appellant.

Christopher M. Patti, Office of the General Counsel, The Regents of the University of California, Oakland, CA, for the defendants-appellees.

Kevin M. Brennan, Arnold & Porter, New York, NY, for the amicus curiae.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California; Ronald S.W. Lew, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-00-06492-RSWL.

Before: FERGUSON, REINHARDT, and GRABER, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge GRABER; Concurrence by Judge FERGUSON; Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by Judge REINHARDT.

ORDER

The mandate is recalled for the limited purpose of correcting the caption. The Opinion filed on August 12, 2002, is amended as follows:

On slip opinion page 11773 , in the caption after "CHARLES LI, in his" insert "individual and" so it reads, "CHARLES LI, in his individual and official capacity as Dean."

On slip opinion page 11773 , in the caption after "GALEN STUCKY," change "Material" to "Materials."

On slip opinion page 11773 , in the caption after "SARAH PRITCHARD," delete "in her individual and" so it reads, "SARAH PRITCHARD, in her official capacity as Director."

The mandate shall reissue forthwith.

OPINION

GRABER, Circuit Judge.

In this appeal, we consider the extent to which the First Amendment and due process guarantees are implicated when a graduate student's thesis committee declines to approve a thesis that meets academic and professional standards in all respects except one: The acknowledgments section does not conform to established academic and professional standards. We conclude that the Amendment does not require university professors to assign a passing grade to such a thesis. We further hold that the university's review procedures satisfied due process. Accordingly, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendants, who are university professors and officials. However, we remand the case for the district court to address a state constitutional claim that it did not resolve.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Christopher Brown was a master's degree candidate in the Department of Material Sciences at the University of California at Santa Barbara ("UCSB"), a public university. In order to earn a master's degree, Plaintiff was required to write a thesis under the guidance and subject to the approval of his thesis committee: Defendants Dr. Galen Stucky (Plaintiff's thesis advisor), Dr. Daniel Morse, and Dr. Fred Lange.

Rules governing the content and structure of master's theses, and the procedures for submitting those theses for approval, are contained in UCSB's Graduate Student's Handbook 1998-99 (Sept.1998) ("Handbook") and in the UCSB Guide to Filing Theses and Dissertations (Feb.1998) ("Guide"). The Guide notes that one of the pedagogical purposes of the thesis project is to educate students about how to communicate research results in their chosen disciplines: "The essence of academic research is shared results. Each discipline has a relatively standard method of presenting research results so that other researchers can find and build on past work." Guide at 1. With respect to the content of a thesis or dissertation, the Guide states:

You and your committee are responsible for everything between the margins. The organization, presentation, and documentation of your research should meet the standards for publishing journal articles or monographs in your field. For general information, consult any standard style guide (such as Strunk and White, Turabian, or The University of Chicago Manual of Style). For discipline-specific questions, consult your faculty committee and/or a style sheet from a journal in your discipline.

Id. (emphasis added).

The Guide also provides the general criteria for an optional "Dedication and/or Acknowledgments" section of a student thesis: "You may wish to dedicate this work to someone special to you or to acknowledge particular persons who helped you. Within the usual margin restrictions, any format is acceptable for these pages."

One of the style manuals to which the Guide refers further clarifies the criteria for acknowledgments sections contained in scholarly papers. See Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations §§ 1.9, 1.26 (Univ. of Chi. Press, 6th ed.1996). With respect to acknowledgments, it states:

In the acknowledgments, the writer thanks mentors and colleagues, lists the individuals or institutions that supported the research, and gives credit to works cited in the text for which permission to reproduce has been granted. Although one might wish to acknowledge special assistance such as consultation on technical matters or aid in securing special equipment and source materials, one may properly omit formal thanks for the routine help given by an adviser or thesis committee. The generic heading ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, which appears only on the first page, is in uppercase and centered over the text.

Id. § 1.26.¹

The Handbook elaborates further on the supervisory role of the thesis committee with respect to the content of a master's thesis:

Students, in conjunction with the faculty who supervise the writing of the dissertation, are responsible for the quality of scholarship in theses and dissertations, including presentation in a format that conforms to disciplinary standards. Faculty should not approve a dissertation that fails to address disciplinary and/or departmental standards.

Handbook at 12 (emphasis added).

In the spring of 1999, Plaintiff brought his thesis, "The Morphology of Calcium Carbonate: Factors Affecting Crystal Shape," to his committee for final approval. Plaintiff did not include an acknowledgments section of any kind in the document that he delivered to his committee. All three committee members signed an approval page stating, "This Thesis of Christopher Brown is approved." (Emphasis added.) In accordance with UCSB rules, that approval page became the second page of the thesis.

After he had obtained the signature page from his committee, Plaintiff inserted an additional, two-page section into his thesis without the knowledge or consent of his committee members. That section, entitled "Disacknowledgements," began: "I would like to offer special Fuck You's to the following degenerates for of being an ever-present hindrance during my graduate career...." It then identified the Dean and staff of the UCSB graduate school, the managers of Davidson Library, former California Governor Wilson, the Regents of the University of California, and "Science" as having been particularly obstructive to Plaintiff's progress toward his graduate degree. Plaintiff later explained that he had not revealed the section to the members of his committee because he feared that they would not approve it.

UCSB rules require that graduate students file their approved theses or dissertations in the university's library as a prerequisite to earning a degree. In June of 1999, Plaintiff attempted to file his thesis, including the unapproved "Disacknowledgements" section, with the library. Defendant Charles Li, the Dean of the Graduate Division of UCSB, was alerted to the presence of the "Disacknowledgements." Dean Li, in turn, referred the issue to Plaintiff's thesis committee.

During June and July, Plaintiff met with members of his committee and with Dean Li to discuss the "Disacknowledgements." He also met with the UCSB Ombudsperson and with the Dean of the UCSB School of Engineering. Plaintiff drafted an alternative version of the section, eliminating the profanity.

The committee members agreed that the "Disacknowledgements" section (even in its nonprofane form) did not meet professional standards for publication in the field. They notified Plaintiff of their decision in a memorandum dated August 5, 1999. That memorandum, written by Dr. Stucky, read in part:

1) The Dissertation Committee stands by its approval of the thesis (dissertation) as it was presented by you to the Committee for their evaluation, review and approval; and, subsequently signed by the members of the Dissertation Committee.

2) The disacknowledgement was not submitted to the Dissertation Committee or to the Graduate Division of the University of California, but for deposition in the Library without knowledge of either the Dissertation Committee or the Graduate Division. It is the understanding of the Dissertation Committee members who reviewed your thesis that the signatures of the Dissertation Committee members are a guarantee that the presentation and content of the entire thesis meets the standards and requirements of the Department, College, and the University of California to whom the thesis is submitted for the appropriate advanced degree. The addition or...