Student Govern. v. Wilberforce University

• Citation: 578 F. Supp. 935
• Decision Date: 28 December 1983
• Docket Number: No. C-3-83-229.,C-3-83-229.
• Parties: STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION OF WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY, et al., Plaintiffs, v. WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY, et al., Defendants.
• Court: United States District Courts. 6th Circuit. United States District Courts. 6th Circuit. Southern District of Ohio

578 F. Supp. 935

STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION OF WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY, et al., Plaintiffs, v. WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY, et al., Defendants.

No. C-3-83-229.

United States District Court, S.D. Ohio, W.D.

December 28, 1983.

Janice I. Beers, Brookville, Ohio, for plaintiffs.

David L. Hall, Dayton, Ohio, for defendants.

DECISION AND ENTRY DISMISSING PLAINTIFFS' FEDERAL CLAIM FOR FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM UPON WHICH RELIEF CAN BE GRANTED AND DISMISSING WITHOUT PREJUDICE PLAINTIFFS' PENDENT STATE LAW CLAIMS; TERMINATION ENTRY

RICE, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

A. The Parties

Plaintiffs in this matter are the Student Government Association of Wilberforce University and certain named students attending Wilberforce.¹ The individually named Plaintiffs, according to the pleadings and affidavits submitted in this action, work on the University's campus at jobs funded through the College Work Study Program (CWS). The Student Government Association purports to be representing the interests of other students, not individually named, who attend Wilberforce, are members of the Association and are also working at CWS jobs.

Defendants include Wilberforce University (the "University"), which is, according to the pleadings, a private university located in Wilberforce, Ohio. The following named administrators at Wilberforce University are also Defendants: Charles C. Taylor, President; Carl R. Smith, Vice President for Administrative and Financial Affairs; Donald L. Hutchins, Vice President of Admissions and Financial Aid; Yvonne Walker Taylor, Provost; Susan Brooks, Controller.

B. The College Work Study Program

The pleadings and affidavits submitted in this matter reveal that the present controversy between the students and the University revolves around the manner in which the University administers certain aspects of its College Work Study Program. The CWS Program is a federally assisted program wherein funds are made available to qualifying universities and colleges to enable these institutions to create employment opportunities for students, "particularly students who are in need of earnings from employment to pursue courses of study at eligible institutions." 42 U.S.C. § 2751(a).

Participation by a school in the College Work Study Program is voluntary. Once a decision to accept federal assistance is made, however, and the school is found eligible according to the statutory provisions, the receipt of federal funds is conditioned upon compliance with the various statutory and regulatory provisions governing the program. See, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2751-2756b; 20 U.S.C. §§ 1088-1098; 34 C.F.R. §§ 668.3, 668.4, 668.8-668.85; 34 C.F.R. §§ 675.1-675.41. The cited provisions describe the congressional purpose in creating the program (42 U.S.C. § 2751), appropriate funds to the program (id.), define administrative requirements participating schools must agree to abide by (42 U.S.C. § 2752, 20 U.S.C. § 1094), provide guidelines on how students are to be selected for participation in the program (20 U.S.C. § 1089), authorize the Secretary of Education to oversee and regulate the program, and provide an administrative procedure through which the Department of Education may investigate and seek enforcement of the various CWS statutory and regulatory provisions (20 U.S.C. § 1094; 34 C.F.R. 668.67, 34 C.F.R. 668.71-.85).

An institution participating in the College Work Study Program must enter an agreement with the Secretary of the Department of Education where under the institution agrees, inter alia, that in selecting students for employment under the College Work Study Program, "only students who demonstrate financial need in accordance with the provisions of Section 1089 of Title 20, ... will be assisted". 42 U.S.C. § 2753(b)(3). The need analysis detailed in 20 U.S.C. § 1089 and the associated regulations (34 C.F.R. §§ 675.11-675.13) provide a formula for determining the financial need of the student, or prospective student, which takes into consideration the various sources of income available to the student ("Expected Family Contribution", 34 C.F.R. 675.12) and "cost of attendance" at the institution (34 C.F.R. 675.11). "Cost of attendance" is defined as including "(1) tuition and fees normally assessed a full time student ..., (2) an allowance for books, supplies, transportation and miscellaneous personal expenses; (3) an allowance for room and board costs". 20 U.S.C. § 1089(d)(1)-(3).

The statutorily prescribed terms of the agreement between the Secretary of Education and the institution also provide that employment under the College Work Study Program cannot be terminated during the course of the semester or regular enrollment period unless the student's income from any employment, whether funded through the program or not, exceeds by $200 or more the amount assessed as the student's "need" under 20 U.S.C. § 1089. 42 U.S.C. § 2753(b)(4). In addition, federal regulations promulgated pursuant to the College Work Study statute provide that in paying the student under the program the "institution may not directly transfer the federal share of any payment to the student's account at the institution or elsewhere to pay expenses or bills." 34 C.F.R. § 675.16. Rather, the instrument issued to the student must be capable of negotiation with the student's own signature. Id.

C. The Substance of the Dispute

The Plaintiff-students allege that the University has deviated from the terms of the agreement entered with the Secretary of Education and that the overall impact of these deviations serves to frustrate the congressional purpose of the CWS Program and to create a situation wherein the students are in danger of suffering immediate and irreparable damages. The students appear in part to be taking issue with the University's determination of the "need" level of the CWS students.

The Plaintiffs feel that the University tends to understate the students' need levels so that students are unable to earn enough from the CWS jobs to cover their necessary expenses for travel and personal needs, and in some cases, are unable to earn sufficient money to buy books.

The students also claim that the University prematurely terminates their income from their CWS jobs. According to the Plaintiffs, at the beginning of the semester, the University establishes for CWS students a deferred account equal in amount to the various costs associated with attendance for the term. Once a student has earned enough to pay off the balance of this account, compensation for their CWS job ceases.

This action, Plaintiffs argue, is in direct violation of 42 U.S.C. § 2754(a)(4), which prohibits termination of the student's CWS job during the semester or regular enrollment period unless or until the student has earned $200 or more in excess of the University's prior assessment of his or her need.

Plaintiffs further take issue with the method of payment allegedly employed by the University to compensate the CWS students. The students claim that they have received checks unsigned by the appropriate University official, which are, therefore, instruments not capable of negotiation even if endorsed by the student. Allegedly, the students have been required to endorse these unsigned checks and return them immediately to the University official. Plaintiffs contend that this procedure amounts to an assignment to the University of their entire income from their CWS job to pay the deferred expenses of attendance. Plaintiffs assert that this method of payment to the students contravenes the regulations prohibiting direct transfer of CWS funds to pay institution expenses and bills as well as the requirement that the students be paid with instruments "capable of negotiation." 34 C.F.R. § 675.16.

D. The Students and the Administration Clash

Feeling that the CWS Program was being administered unjustly, the CWS students, according to the pleadings, undertook a protest at the University by refusing to endorse the unsigned and therefore, nonnegotiable instruments they received from the University. In response to this protest, the University issued a notice that students who failed to recommence endorsing their work study checks would have the entire amount due on their deferred accounts accelerated. (Plaintiffs' Complaint, attachment C, March 4, 1983, letter from Dr. Charles Taylor, President.) If a student failed to pay the accelerated balance due, the student would be dismissed and denied credit for that trimester, and would not be readmitted until the balance was paid in full.

Subsequent to this notice, some students endorsed their checks; some endorsed their checks along with added notations to the effect that they had endorsed under protest and duress. On March 4, 1983, the University discontinued its practice of issuing unsigned checks to the CWS students and instead issued checks bearing the signature of the appropriate University official. With these checks, however, was a notice informing the students that the University would not accept CWS checks with restrictive endorsements and that the failure of any CWS student to pay on his or her account on a biweekly basis would result in the entire balance being accelerated and due and payable immediately. (Plaintiffs' Complaint, attachment C.)

On March 14, 1983, after announcement of the University's policy and after some of the CWS students had received notices that they were to pay the entire deferred balance on their accounts or face dismissal without credit, the Plaintiff-students and Student Government Association filed the Complaint in this proceeding along with a Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction to Preserve Evidence with Accompanying Affidavits. The motion was filed to seek Court enforcement of the status quo by restraining the University from destroying evidence, (i.e., checks in the possession of the University which lacked the payee's signature), and to prevent students from...