Royalton College, Inc. v. State Bd. of Ed., 42-68

• Decision Date: 27 February 1969
• Docket Number: No. 42-68,42-68
• Parties: ROYALTON COLLEGE, INC. v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Page 498

251 A.2d 498

127 Vt. 436

ROYALTON COLLEGE, INC. v. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

No. 42-68.

Supreme Court of Vermont.

Feb. 27, 1969.

Downs & Rachlin, St. Johnsbury, for petitioner.

Kimberly B. Cheney, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the petitionee.

Before SHANGRAW, BARNEY, SMITH and KEYSER, JJ., and HILL, Superior, J.

BARNEY, Justice.

The State Board of Education has ordered the suspension of the degree granting privileges of Royalton College, Inc. To obtain review of this action the college, as petitioner, has asked this Court for a writ of certiorari. Since there is no regular appellate procedure provided for review of this action of the board, resort to this writ is appropriate. In re Petition of Town of Essex, 125 Vt. 170, 171, 212 A.2d 623.

The ambit of the review afforded is limited to substantial questions of law affecting the merits of the case involved in the proceedings below. Its issuance is largely a matter of discretion, and is dependent on the lack of any other adequate remedy at law. In re Taconic Racing & Breeding Ass'n., Inc., 125 Vt. 76, 77-78, 209 A.2d 492. The petition must state facts sufficient to justify the issuance of the writ and present, on its face, a meritorious case. It is our practice to examine into the merits of the case on the question of whether or not the writ shall issue. Rutland Hospital, Inc. v. State Board of Health, 126 Vt. 41, 44, 220 A.2d 722.

Thus it is not for this Court to pass upon the qualifications or shortcomings of Royalton College, Inc. as an educational institution. Nor is it proper for us to perform the functions of a board of education. The question for us is the legal sufficiency and propriety of the acts of such a board which are appropriate for court review. Petition of St. George, 125 Vt. 408, 413, 217 A.2d 45.

The facts are available by virtue of the petition and a stipulation of the parties involving agreement as to most of the facts, by admission of matters pleaded subject to certain agreed amendments and consent that in these cases the record of proceedings before the board shall be determinative.

In 1965 Royalton College, Inc., was incorporated as a proprietary, stock corporation, with Anthony Doria, now its president, as principal stockholder by virtue of ownership of all but two of the 2000 shares. At that time, although the purpose of the corporation was educational, it did not seek or claim degree granting privileges. It did offer a four year course of study specializing in international relations. In 1967 a visiting committee of five representatives from colleges and two from the board of education looked into the operation of the college. As a consequence of the favorable report of that committee, Royalton requested degree granting powers from the board of education. Between the time of the visitation and the meeting of the board at Royalton on April 17, 1967, the law with respect to degree granting powers was amended, so that the corporation was organized and in effect under one law, and its later operations governed by a different law.

In its meeting on April 18, 1967, the board voted to give Royalton degree granting privileges effective for the 1967-68 academic year. This privilege was to continue for successive academic years, provided satisfactory progress was made by the college in meeting the following seventeen conditions:

1. Securing the services of persons qualified to teach History and English.

2. A clear delineation of duties, rights and other information relating to the faculty. If possible the separation of teaching and administrative functions should be achieved.

3. Securing the services of a qualified, full-time librarian.

4. A program for the development of a book collection of 50,000 volumes within ten (10) years.

5. A program for the acquisition of back files (ten years) of the scholarly journals.

6. The present book collection should be cataloged and classified according to the Library of Congress system.

7. A standard procedure for the circulation of books should be established so the librarian may have control of the collection.

8. Plans should be made to enlarge the library building so that it will have a stack area that will provide for twenty years growth.

9. A clearly presented program of study for four years with required courses and options leading to the B.A. degree.

10. A clear statement of the grading system which would ensure a student of a transcript which would be acceptable for transfer to another undergraduate college or admission to a graduate college.

11. A statement of the requirements for graduation in terms of credit hours or number of courses.

12. A requirement of at least one year of English literature and composition for all students.

13. A requirement of one year of science course for all students working for the B.A. degree.

14. A requirement of one modern foreign language through the intermediate level of all students working for the B.A. degree.

15. Regularization of applications and admissions procedure.

16. Securing the services of a responsible financial officer (distinct from the other administrative officers of the College) to oversee the institution's financial and business operation.

17. The College bulletin should be rewritten immediately with special attention given to suggestions contained in the body of this report.

These conditions were agreed to by Mr. Doria, the then acting president. In July, 1967, the college filed an amendment to its articles of association reflecting the power to grant a Bachelor of Arts degree. The report of the visiting committee of 1967 and the report of the commissioner of education to the board both reflected high praise for the educational program of Royalton.

In the fall of 1967, on the basis of some newspaper reports, the condition of Royalton's finances began to give the board enough concern so that the college found its way onto the board's agenda. Mr. Doria was alleged to have engaged in some transfers of property between the college corporation and another corporation which he owned. These transfers were later explained on the record before the board by Mr. Doria as attempts to adjust the situation in Royalton so that all the college property would not be taken off Royalton tax rolls if the institution became non-profit, as the board and the Vermont Higher Education Council were later pressing him to do.

The concern of the board, however, led to arrangements for a new visitation by a committee from the Vermont Higher Education Council in February 1968. Once again the educational program and the physical plant of Royalton received high praise, but this time financial arrangements were strongly criticized. The college objected to the review because it appeared to outreach concern for the original conditions attached to the degree granting powers and because it came within less than a year from the grant.

To fully understand this area of disagreement, a review of the intervening statutory changes is helpful. At the time Royalton incorporated 16 V.S.A. Sec. 148 provided as follows:

§ 148. Certificate for corporations conferring degrees

(a) Before articles of association, or amendment thereof, of a corporation seeking authority to confer degrees are transmitted to the secretary of state, the incorporators or trustees shall petition the state board of education for a certificate approving the educational standing and financial status of such corporation. Such board shall give the petitioners and persons interested an opportunity to be heard and shall conduct such other inquiry as, in its opinion, may be necessary to make findings. Such findings shall be certified to the secretary of state.

(b) The articles of association or amendment thereof, such certificate and the organization fee shall be transmitted to the secretary of state. When such articles or amendment are recorded, such certificate of the board shall be recorded therewith. If such board does not certify that such corporation is qualified to provide instruction and is financially capable of maintaining the educational standards necessary to warrant it in conferring such degrees, such articles or amendment shall not be recorded.

It was under these provisions that Royalton petitioned for degree granting privileges in 1967. The visiting committee came in February 1967, reported favorably, and in April 1967 the board granted the privilege. At that time, effective March 23, 1967, the provisions of 16 V.S.A. Sec. 148 had been amended generally to read:

§ 148. Educational institutions; degrees; name

(a) The articles of association of a corporation organized to engage in higher education must be accompanied by a certificate of the state board of education acting on the advice of the Vermont Higher Education Council. The certificate shall state that the corporation is engaged in conducting a bona fide institution of higher learning, giving instruction in arts and letters, science or the professions, or that the corporation proposes, in good faith, to engage in that field and has or will have the resources, including personnel, requisite for the conduct of an institution of higher learning.

(b) No person operating as an educational institution which proposes to offer courses of study above high school grade, which courses satisfy in whole or in part the requirements for a college or university degree, shall adopt or use any title or name commonly accepted as descriptive of collegiate or university institutions unless the institution shall be incorporated as provided in subsection (a) of this section. This subsection shall not apply to educational institutions existing on the effective date hereof.

(c) Only a corporation organized as provided in subsection (a) hereof may grant a degree of any type. No corporation shall grant a degree of any type unless authorized and certified for such purpose by the state board of education with the advice of the Vermont Higher Education Council....