Robinson v. Board of Regents of Eastern Kentucky Univ., No. 72-1867.
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit) |
| Writing for the Court | PHILLIPS, , KENT, Circuit , and McALLISTER, Senior Circuit |
| Citation | 475 F.2d 707 |
| Parties | Ruth ROBINSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The BOARD OF REGENTS OF EASTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY, a Body Corporate, and Robert R. Martin, President of Eastern Kentucky University, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Docket Number | No. 72-1867. |
| Decision Date | 28 March 1973 |
475 F.2d 707 (1973)
Ruth ROBINSON, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
The BOARD OF REGENTS OF EASTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY, a Body Corporate, and Robert R. Martin, President of Eastern Kentucky University, Defendants-Appellees.
No. 72-1867.
United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.
March 28, 1973.
Robert Allen Sedler, Lexington, Ky., for plaintiff-appellant.
Bert T. Combs, Louisville, Ky., for defendants-appellees; Charles R. Simons, Louisville, Ky. (Tarrant, Combs, Blackwell & Bullitt, Louisville, Ky., of counsel), John W. Palmore, Richmond, Ky., on brief.
Before PHILLIPS, Chief Judge, KENT, Circuit Judge, and McALLISTER, Senior Circuit Judge.
PHILLIPS, Chief Judge.
This is another case in which this Court is urged to assume the prerogatives of a super Board of Regents and make a decision concerning the internal administrative affairs of a university involving no violation of any constitutional right of any student. This we decline to do.
Like many universities and colleges, Eastern Kentucky University promulgated dormitory hour regulations for women students during the 1971-72 academic year. During their freshman year, women students were required to be in their dormitories by 10:30 p. m. Monday through Thursday. The curfew hour on Friday and Saturday nights was 1 a. m. and 12:00 midnight was the Sunday curfew.
Beginning with the second year of study, the women students could have the privilege of unrestricted hours with no curfew requiring their presence in their dormitory by a certain hour. Three conditions had to be met, however, to qualify for this privilege: 1) the student was required to have a C average
During the pendency of this action, the University announced new regulations in this area. First semester freshman women, under the new regulations, are required to be in their dormitory by midnight Sunday through Thursday and by 2 a. m. on Friday and Saturday nights. All other women students in the University can have self-regulated hours by paying a $10 fee per semester and gaining permission of their parents if they are under 21. All women who do not have self-regulated hours are subject to the same curfews as the first-semester freshmen. It should be noted that at no time relevant to this action, either under the old or new regulations, have there been any curfew restrictions on male students at Eastern Kentucky.
Appellant's class action was filed in the District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky during the 1971-72 school year when she was a freshman at Eastern Kentucky. She claims that the University, by imposing dormitory hours for women, while granting self-regulated hours to all male students, regardless of age or permission from their parents, has violated her Fourteenth Amendment right to the equal protection of the law. Appellant appeals from the dismissal of her suit by the District Court. We affirm.
Appellant was a sophomore at the University at the time of the District Court's dismissal of her suit. She claims that even though under the presently applicable dormitory regulations she can, and does, have self-regulated hours with her parents' permission, the fact that she must get her parents' permission for unrestricted hours while male students need not get such permission results in a continuing denial of her equal protection rights. In view of our disposition of this case we need not decide this issue.
At the outset, we point out that students, no less than any other citizens of the United States, are protected by the Constitution of the United States. For a general discussion, see Wright, The Constitution on the Campus, 22 Vand.L.Rev. 1027 (1969). As the Supreme Court stated, in Tinker v. Des Moines School District, 393 U.S. 503, 506, 89 S.Ct. 733, 736, 21 L.Ed.2d 731 (1969): "It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights . . . at the schoolhouse gate." See also Healy v. James, 408 U.S. 169, 180, 92 S.Ct. 2338, 33 L.Ed.2d 266 (1972). Although Tinker concentrated on the First Amendment rights of students, we construe it as equally applicable to all constitutional protections. It also is clear that the state, in operating a public system of higher education, cannot condition attendance at one of its schools on the student's renunciation of his constitutional rights. West Virginia v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 63 S.Ct. 1178, 87 L.Ed. 1628 (1943); Dixon v. Alabama State Board of Education, 294 F.2d 150 (5th Cir. 1961); Knight v. State Board
However, the Supreme Court has recognized repeatedly that the campus presents a unique situation which imposes special considerations in the application of Constitutional protections and...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Yellow Springs Exempted Village School Dist. Bd. of Ed. v. Ohio High School Athletic Ass'n, Nos. 78-3131
...190, 97 S.Ct. 451, 50 L.Ed.2d 397 (1976). The rule is presumed to be valid. Robinson v. Board of Regents of Eastern Kentucky University, 475 F.2d 707 (6th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 982, 94 S.Ct. 2382, 40 L.Ed.2d 758 (1974). 3 However, the rule may not be premised on archaic stereot......
-
Smith v. Troyan, Nos. 73-2226
...95 S.Ct. 572, 42 L.Ed.2d 610 (1975); Kahn v. Shevin, 416 U.S. 351, 94 S.Ct. 1734, 40 L.Ed.2d 189 (1974); Robinson v. Board of Regents, 475 F.2d 707 (6th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 982, 94 S.Ct. 2382, 40 L.Ed.2d 758 (1974). More importantly perhaps, the classifications the Supreme Co......
-
Smith v. City of East Cleveland, No. C 73-299.
...post-delivery leave was unconstitutionally discriminatory) with the ruling in Robinson v. Board of Regents of Eastern Kentucky University, 475 F.2d 707 (6th Cir. 1973) (that women could be forced to observe certain curfews while men would not be under a similar restriction) on the basis of ......
-
Morale v. Grigel, Civ. A. No. 76-211.
...624, 63 S.Ct. 1178, 87 L.Ed.2d 1628 (1943); Piazzola, supra, 442 F.2d 289-90; Robinson v. Board of Regents of Eastern Kentucky University, 475 F.2d 707 (6th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 982, 94 S.Ct. 2382, 40 L.Ed.2d 758 (1974); Smyth v. Lubbers, supra, 398 F.Supp. at 788. Therefore, ......
-
Yellow Springs Exempted Village School Dist. Bd. of Ed. v. Ohio High School Athletic Ass'n, Nos. 78-3131
...190, 97 S.Ct. 451, 50 L.Ed.2d 397 (1976). The rule is presumed to be valid. Robinson v. Board of Regents of Eastern Kentucky University, 475 F.2d 707 (6th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 982, 94 S.Ct. 2382, 40 L.Ed.2d 758 (1974). 3 However, the rule may not be premised on archaic stereot......
-
Smith v. Troyan, Nos. 73-2226
...95 S.Ct. 572, 42 L.Ed.2d 610 (1975); Kahn v. Shevin, 416 U.S. 351, 94 S.Ct. 1734, 40 L.Ed.2d 189 (1974); Robinson v. Board of Regents, 475 F.2d 707 (6th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 982, 94 S.Ct. 2382, 40 L.Ed.2d 758 (1974). More importantly perhaps, the classifications the Supreme Co......
-
Smith v. City of East Cleveland, No. C 73-299.
...post-delivery leave was unconstitutionally discriminatory) with the ruling in Robinson v. Board of Regents of Eastern Kentucky University, 475 F.2d 707 (6th Cir. 1973) (that women could be forced to observe certain curfews while men would not be under a similar restriction) on the basis of ......
-
Morale v. Grigel, Civ. A. No. 76-211.
...624, 63 S.Ct. 1178, 87 L.Ed.2d 1628 (1943); Piazzola, supra, 442 F.2d 289-90; Robinson v. Board of Regents of Eastern Kentucky University, 475 F.2d 707 (6th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 982, 94 S.Ct. 2382, 40 L.Ed.2d 758 (1974); Smyth v. Lubbers, supra, 398 F.Supp. at 788. Therefore, ......