Williams v. Northfield Mount Hermon Sch.

• Decision Date: 16 January 1981
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 78-0356-F.
• Citation: 504 F. Supp. 1319
• Parties: Catherine WILLIAMS, Plaintiff, v. NORTHFIELD MOUNT HERMON SCHOOL, and Jane E. Robinson and Nancy Twinem, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

504 F. Supp. 1319

Catherine WILLIAMS, Plaintiff, v. NORTHFIELD MOUNT HERMON SCHOOL, and Jane E. Robinson and Nancy Twinem, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 78-0356-F.

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts.

January 16, 1981.

Catherine Williams, pro se.

Geoffrey A. Wilson, Trudel, Bartlett, Barry & Filler, Greenfield, Mass., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM

FREEDMAN, District Judge.

I

Jeanne Williams brought this action pro se on behalf of her then minor daughter Catherine Williams in February 1978 seeking injunctive relief and damages. Following amendment of the complaint, the case came to be heard on plaintiff's motion for a temporary restraining order which was denied. Subsequently, Catherine Williams became eighteen years of age and was substituted as party plaintiff.¹ She is also proceeding pro se. The case is presently before the Court on defendants' motion to dismiss the amended complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. F.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6).

The claims in this case relate to the conduct of defendants during plaintiff's enrollment at and subsequent dismissal from defendant Northfield Mount Hermon School, a private boarding school in Northfield, Massachusetts. Plaintiff, a black, alleges that the defendants' actions violated her rights under the Fourteenth Amendment and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. Plaintiff also alleges a conspiracy between defendants Jane E. Robinson, Head of Northfield Mount Hermon School, and defendant Nancy Twinem, Dean of the Northfield Campus of the School, to deprive her of her rights or privileges as a citizen of the United States in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3). Jurisdiction is based upon 28 U.S.C. § 1343.

II

In her long and detailed amended complaint, plaintiff alleges a factual background comprised of several incidents involving the named defendants Twinem and Robinson and other personnel of Northfield Mount Hermon School. The events occurred between September 17, 1977, when plaintiff entered the school as a sophomore, and the date of her dismissal and departure on January 27, 1978. Accepting as true all material allegations of the amended complaint, as the Court must in considering a 12(b)(6) motion, Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); see also O'Brien v. DiGrazia, 544 F.2d 543, 545 (1st Cir. 1976), cert. denied 431 U.S. 914, 97 S.Ct. 2173, 53 L.Ed.2d 223 (1977), the following factual pattern emerges:

On or about October 31, 1977, Catherine Williams called her mother from school to tell her that Richard Ely, a dormitory supervisor at Northfield Mount Hermon, was writing a letter to plaintiff's parents regarding her use of marihuana at the school.² Ely spoke to plaintiff's mother at this time, and subsequently sent a letter dated November 3, 1977. Amended Complaint, Exhibit A. On November 12, 1977, plaintiff and her parents met with Ely in his apartment at the school and discussed the situation. Ely explained that it was the school's practice to put in writing and notify parents only about those matters which a student admits, and that in the absence of such admission, nothing is put in writing or reported verbally. Plaintiff's parents expressed their concern that too much time had elapsed between Ely's learning of plaintiff's use of marihuana at the school and his reporting to plaintiff's parents. They requested future violations be brought to their attention immediately. Ely's letter was placed in plaintiff's school file, although there was no indication in the conversation between Ely and plaintiff's parents that this would happen.

Plaintiff stopped using marihuana on or about November 5, 1977. Sometime after the meeting between Ely and plaintiff's parents, a white friend of Catherine Williams named Shirley Hibbard informed Catherine that she too had admitted using marihuana at school to Ely but that he had not written any letters about it to either her parents or anyone else.

On November 12, 1977, plaintiff and her friend Shirley Hibbard visited the room of a male student who gave them "an alcoholic beverage to drink as well as pills of unknown content, both of which they consumed." Amended Complaint, ¶ 15. When Catherine Williams told Ely about this incident, purportedly in confidence, he told her she would be placed on a Leave of Absence. However, when defendant Nancy Twinem confronted Catherine Williams in connection with the alcohol and pills incident, Twinem told plaintiff that she would be suspended for a week. Plaintiff and Shirley Hibbard were in fact suspended for a week and placed on Disciplinary Probation. The male student involved was dismissed from the school.

Plaintiff served her suspension, and pursuant to her parents' desires, also took a one-week Leave of Absence in order to receive counseling from professionals who knew her at home. Following her return to school, plaintiff received a letter dated December 21, 1977 from defendant Nancy Twinem setting out the terms and conditions of her probation. Amended Complaint, Exhibit C. Shirley Hibbard told plaintiff that she received a similar letter on November 28, 1977. Catherine's letter explained that another violation of a major school rule or "a significant violation of probation ..." would lead to an appearance before the school's Judicial Commission.³ Amended Complaint, Exhibit C, ¶ 5. The meaning of the phrase "a significant violation of probation" was never explained to Catherine Williams by Nancy Twinem.⁴

The amended complaint next turns to the series of events leading to plaintiff's dismissal from Northfield Mount Hermon School in January 1978. On January 16, defendant Nancy Twinem called plaintiff's mother and informed her that Catherine had been involved in food throwing, spraying room freshener, and an alleged incident of drinking alcohol during the preceding week. Twinem requested that plaintiff withdraw or take a Leave of Absence from the school. Plaintiff's parents consulted with professionals who had met with plaintiff previously and they suggested that Catherine take a Leave of Absence to receive counseling.

On January 19, 1978, plaintiff called her mother and told her that Twinem and Ely had removed plaintiff from class and tried to get her to confess to the alleged drinking incident. Plaintiff's mother called the Head of Northfield Mount Hermon, defendant Jane Robinson, and arranged a meeting on January 24, 1978 with plaintiff, her parents, Twinem, Ely, and Robinson. On January 24, a series of meetings took place. Initially, all parties agreed that Catherine Williams should not have to appear before the school's Judicial Commission. Plaintiff's parents requested a Medical Leave of Absence for Catherine, but defendant Twinem denied this request without following usual consultative process. Defendant Robinson requested that plaintiff's parents withdraw Catherine from school, but they refused. Plaintiff's parents then requested that Ely, Twinem and Ms. Schwingel, an English teacher at the school, withdraw themselves from any further participation in actions where plaintiff was concerned because of their alleged bias against her.⁵

Ultimately, defendant Robinson presented plaintiff and her parents with the choice of plaintiff's appearance before the Judicial Commission, withdrawal, or referring the matter to their respective lawyers. Catherine Williams, presented with a choice of withdrawing or appearing before the Judicial Commission, chose the Judicial Commission appearance.

At the conclusion of the January 24 meeting, defendant Robinson advised plaintiff's parents that Catherine Williams would have to be moved out of her dormitory and housed elsewhere on campus. Over her parents' objections, Catherine spent the next four nights at various faculty residences on the Northfield Mount Hermon campus.

On January 25, 1978, plaintiff received notice of the time and place of her appearance before the Judicial Commission. Amended Complaint, Exhibit D.⁶ Plaintiff asked defendant Twinem the meaning of the phrase "your having violated the terms of your Disciplinary Probation" which appeared as the charge in her notice of the Judicial Commission proceedings. Twinem told plaintiff that each of the charges would be taken into the Judicial Commission proceedings and destroyed before adjournment in order to protect individuals appearing before the Judicial Commission from having any information on the paper getting to the outside of the meeting room. Plaintiff did not know the specific charges against her; additionally, defendant Twinem informed plaintiff that she had to appear before the Judicial Commission whether or not she was prepared.

The Judicial Commission met to consider Catherine Williams' case on January 26, 1978 at 4:15 p. m. Plaintiff's parents earlier that day sent a telegram to Howard L. Jones, President of Northfield Mount Hermon School and defendants Robinson and Twinem reiterating their objection to participation in the Judicial Commission by persons whom they considered biased against Catherine Williams.⁷ Amended Complaint, Exhibit E. Although this telegram was received prior to Judicial Commission proceedings, it was not acted upon by defendant Twinem. Defendant Robinson did not take part in the proceedings, but while she was en route from Boston, Massachusetts either telephoned or was telephoned by defendant Twinem and informed of the Judicial Commission's decision.

By an almost unanimous vote, the Judicial Commission recommended that Catherine Williams should not remain at Northfield Mount Hermon; defendant Robinson accepted this recommendation. Plaintiff called her parents at 7:30 p. m. on January 26, 1978 and informed them of the decision.

On Friday, January 27, 1978, the Associate Dean of the Northfield campus, Peter Davies, telephoned plaintiff's father and requested that plaintiff's departure from school be expedited, and stated he would ask the Northfield police to serve plaintiff with a Trespass...