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I’ve Been Subjected to an Unfair Disciplinary Process on Campus—What Should I Do?

Facing disciplinary action at a college or university can be overwhelming, especially if you believe the process was unfair. Students accused of misconduct often face inadequate or one-sided procedures that lack due process. If you believe you’ve been subjected to an unfair disciplinary process on campus, please continue reading and…
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What Are My Rights in a Campus Protest or Demonstration?

College campuses have long been centers for activism, debate, and political expression. Whether protesting government policies, university decisions, or social issues, students have the right to express themselves consistent with the First Amendment or, at private universities, with university policy. However, universities—particularly public institutions—must balance free expression with campus order.…
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What Is Compelled Speech?

Compelled speech is a complex and often misunderstood concept in the realm of free expression, particularly in higher education. It refers to situations where the government (including governmental entities such as state universities) requires you to express ideas or beliefs you may not agree with, and it can be a…
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Court Refuses to Dismiss Jewish Student’s Discrimination Lawsuit against Carnegie Mellon University

Last month, a Pennsylvania federal judge denied Carnegie Mellon University’s motion to dismiss Title VI discrimination and retaliation claims brought by a Jewish student alleging that she was subjected to antisemitic discrimination at the university*. This is an important ruling, particularly in light of the rise in antisemitism on campus…
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What is Title IX Retaliation?

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funding – which includes nearly all universities, both public and private. While most people associate Title IX with addressing sexual harassment or assault in schools, the law also…
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What Are Common Misconceptions About Title IX Rights and Protections?

Title IX is a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funding – which includes nearly all universities, both public and private. While its purpose is straightforward, many misconceptions surround Title IX, particularly regarding its rights and protections. These misunderstandings can leave students confused about…
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What Rights Do Students Have During a Misconduct Hearing?

Facing a misconduct process in college can be a stressful experience for students. Whether the allegations involve academic dishonesty, student conduct code violations, or more serious allegations like sexual misconduct, students often find themselves navigating unfamiliar territory. It’s essential for students to understand that they have rights throughout this process,…
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Attorney Samantha Harris Holds Free Speech Lecture at Ursinus College

Recently, Attorney Samantha Harris delivered a lecture at Ursinus College titled “Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism, and Freedom of Speech: Navigating the Post-10/7 Landscape.” Part of the Jewish Life Series, her talk explored the complex relationship between free speech and antisemitism in the current political climate. Harris emphasized the need for nuanced dialogue…
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Attorney Kellie Miller Wins Pivotal Case for Dr. Michael Joyner Against Mayo Clinic

We are proud to announce that Attorney Kellie Miller, of Allen Harris Law, successfully represented Dr. Michael Joyner in a significant case against the Mayo Clinic. The recent ruling allowed Dr. Joyner’s lawsuit to proceed, highlighting issues with academic freedom and retaliation. Miller emphasized that Mayo’s stance undermines true academic…
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Attorney Andrew Cavarno Continues His Winning Streak in Title IX Representations on Campus and in Student Code of Conduct Cases

Andrew Cavarno continues to make a name for himself as a formidable advocate for students in campus disciplinary proceedings. Within just the last few months alone, Andrew has secured an uninterrupted series of victories that underscore exceptional skills as a higher education attorney and dedication to Allen Harris’s clients. Develop…
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“Outcry Witnesses” and the Ongoing Infantilization of College Sexual Misconduct Investigations

In our representation of students accused of sexual misconduct on campus, we have recently begun to see investigators and decision-makers apply a legal doctrine – called the “outcry witness” doctrine -- intended to protect child victims to cases involving adults. This is yet another example both of how colleges infantilize…
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New Allen Harris Attorney Andrew Cavarno Clears International Student of False Title IX Accusation

Allen Harris’ newest associate, Attorney Andrew Cavarno, showcased his top-notch representation skills and dedication to due process by clearing an international student falsely accused of a Title IX violation. The student, a Chinese national, was enrolled in a graduate program at a top-ten university, where he is now free to…
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Allen Harris Client Prof. Scott Gerber Writes About His ‘Secret Investigation’ Nightmare in the Wall Street Journal

One of the most frustrating things students and faculty members face in campus proceedings is the lack of information they are routinely given about their supposed offenses. Ohio Northern University law professor Scott Gerber, an Allen Harris client, took to the Wall Street Journal today to tell the outrageous story…
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Allen Harris and FIRE Team Up to File Title IX Amicus Brief with Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals

Last Friday, Allen Harris attorney Robert Shibley, representing the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), filed an amicus brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in support of a student accused in a Title IX campus proceeding. The case, Doe v. Loyola University Chicago,…
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Attorney Robert Shibley of Allen Harris Law Has Op-Ed Featured On Fox News

Attorney Robert Shibley of Allen Harris Law wrote an op-ed featured on Fox News called, "'Twitter Files' show today's censors continue to be terrible at their jobs." The op-ed speaks about how we now know, thanks to the "Twitter Files," that Twitter censors actively worked alongside government agencies--albeit rather incompetently--to…
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The Most Accurate Movie About Campus Life in the 1990s: Oh! What a Difference Three Decades Has Made

Michael Chabon’s Most Accurate Academic Movie Ever Made Those interested in a humorous romp through a dysfunctional college’s administration might pick up the novel Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon. Chabon published Wonder Boys in 1995, early in his career before going on to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in…
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First Circuit Court of Appeals Upholds Student’s Claim Against Stonehill College’s Unfair Campus Court and for Ignoring Its Title IX Policies

Right before Christmas 2022, the First Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a case by a student at Stonehill College, a small school of less than 2,500 students in Easton, Massachusetts who had sued after being expelled by a Title IX campus court. The First Circuit reversed the decision of the…
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Coming Soon to a Campus Near You: The Human Resource Office Will Begin an Unending Investigation for the Sake of Investigation

I. The Tyranny of the Campus HR Department At Allen Harris, we are seeing an increasing trend that attacks faculty rights on campus. Colleges and universities are ceding supervision of faculty to their human resource departments. It is a growing trend that students and colleagues routinely weaponize petty grievances to…
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Survey suggests college students think some speech might warrant violent reactions – even the death penalty

A disturbing new survey released late last month, conducted by McLaughlin & Associates for the William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale, found that college students were surprisingly willing to say that violence might be an appropriate reaction to “hateful” views. Worse, responses to one of the questions suggest that…
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Boo! This Halloween, beware of ghosts, offensive costumes … and college administrators

As college students prepare for Halloween parties, college administrators send out predictable warnings about the importance of not offending anyone with a Halloween costume. Whitman College, for example, cautions against anything that might “trivialize human suffering or oppression” – like a prisoner costume. The University of Nebraska and the University…
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Massachusetts Private High School Forced to Recognize Student’s Rights in Title IX Case

A Massachusetts family recently scored a huge win for students against the Governor’s Academy (formerly known as the Governor Dummer Academy), a private New England high school, for breach of contract and violation of Title IX. Lawsuits against private high schools are notoriously difficult. Private high schools can expel students…
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Samantha Harris Quoted in USA Today Article: Biden Administration Proposes Protections for Transgender Students and Against Sexual Violence in Schools

June 23, 2022 President Joe Biden's administration released a proposal Thursday that would provide stronger protections against sex and gender discrimination on college campuses, as well as for anyone who claims they were the victim of sexual assault on campus. The changes seek to overhaul a federal rule known as…
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Samantha Harris Featured in The Wall Street Journal: Princeton President Asks Board to Fire Tenured Classics Professor, Citing Sexual-Misconduct Investigation

May 19, 2022 Princeton University’s president has recommended that the school’s board of trustees fire a tenured classics professor, concluding he didn’t cooperate fully in a sexual-misconduct investigation, according to a copy of his letter to the board’s chair reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The recommended dismissal is being…
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Samantha Harris Quoted in NYT Article: After Campus Uproar, Princeton Proposes to Fire Tenured Professor

May 20, 2022 In July 2020, as social justice protests roiled the nation, Joshua Katz, a Princeton classics professor, wrote in a small influential journal that some faculty proposals to combat racism at Princeton would foment “civil war on campus,” and denounced a student group, the Black Justice League, as…
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Famed New England Prep School Not Above the Law in Disciplinary Action Against Former Student, Judge Rules

Decision allows case to proceed against the Frederick Gunn School for expelling student who cursed at his football coach after benching and berating him during final game LITCHFIELD, Conn., February 16, 2022 --- In a ruling exposing the lack of due process at one of the country’s elite private schools,…
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UNT Professor Timothy Jackson Wins Preliminary Battle in the Courts

Professor Timothy Jackson of the University of North Texas (UNT), who was wrongfully accused of being a racist for defending music theorist Heinrich Schenker, recently won a preliminary battle in the courts, as District Judge Amos L. Mazzant decisively rejected UNT’s request for a summary dismissal of Jackson’s defamation lawsuit…
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Allen Harris Law’s Samantha Harris Helps Graduate Student Fight for Freedom of Conscience at Princeton Theological Seminary

Allen Harris Law’s Samantha Harris was recently featured in an article about Timothy Keiderling, a graduate student at Princeton Theological Seminary who fought back against PTS’s efforts to make him attend so-called “anti-racist” trainings that conflicted with his religious beliefs – and won. PTS required its students to participate in…
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University of Tennessee Pharmacy Student Sues School Over Discipline for Social Media Posts

Kimberly Diel, a University of Tennessee pharmacy student, recently filed a first amendment lawsuit against the school, alleging the university expelled her because she posted on her private, personal social accounts the school deemed too sexual.  The pharmacy school complained that this was “unprofessional.”  It is all too common that…
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Denton Record-Chronicle: Music professor files suit against UNT for alleged retaliation over racism accusations

A University of North Texas music professor filed a lawsuit against the university for violating his constitutional rights. The suit comes after UNT said it would remove Dr. Timothy Jackson from his position at the head of a music theory journal, defunding the journal itself as well as the research…
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Federal Judge Orders UConn to Pay Attorney Michael Thad Allen $63,000 for Violating Due Process Rights of Student

Judge Michael Shea of the Federal District Court of Connecticut has ordered the University of Connecticut to pay Attorney Michael Thad Allen over $63,000 in reasonable attorney fees due to the university’s violation of a student’s due process rights in a sexual misconduct hearing. Attorney Allen sued on behalf of…
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New Department of Education Hotline for Campus Free Speech Violations Draws Criticism

In December, the U.S. Department of Education announced the implementation of a new “free speech hotline” for students and faculty members to file complaints about free speech violations at colleges and universities. The “hotline” is not so much a hotline in the traditional sense.  Instead an email account freespeech@ed.gov managed…
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Sixth Circuit Takes Back Win for Title IX Plaintiff Who Argued University of Michigan Didn’t Do Enough to Protect Her from Sexual Harassment

The University of Michigan recently secured a significant victory in a Title IX case that split judges on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. In an 8-6 en banc decision, the court overruled the decision of a three-judge panel and found that the university had responded adequately to an alleged…
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Federal Judge Could Strike Part of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s Title IX Rule

Federal judge William Young of the Federal District Court for Massachusetts indicated he may strike down part of the rule implemented by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos regarding how schools are required to respond to sexual misconduct allegations under Title IX. The regulations implemented August 14, 2020 require universities to allow…
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National Review: Universities Circumvent New Title IX Regulations

Published on nationalreview.com For years, universities have denied basic procedural protections to students accused of sexual misconduct. Despite the seriousness of such allegations, schools routinely condemn students as responsible without so much as a hearing or the opportunity to confront their accusers. This was supposed to change when the Department of…
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Syracuse University Can’t Hide Student Advisor Records Simply by Assigning “Therapists” To Be Advisors: Lessons for Accused Students and Victims Alike

Read the decision: Order to Disclose Campus Advisor Records The US District Court for the Northern District of New York has just ordered Syracuse University to hand over the records of a campus “advisor” who gave procedural advice to the complainant in its Title IX proceedings after the judge found…
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Colleges as Courtrooms? How Administrators Can Adjust to New Title IX Regs

By Jonathan B. Orleans and Michael Thad Allen The first formal changes to Title IX’s implementing regulations in 45 years are here, and they are significant. The federal statute, which prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs receiving federal financial assistance, had its earliest impacts on intercollegiate athletics. But since the…
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Bad Vibrations: The Lies Universities Tell Their Students about Sex

Featured on Quilette.com Universities today bombard students with two contradictory messages about sex, effectively encouraging them to carry a dildo in their pocket, while lugging a fainting couch behind them. On the one hand, universities have returned to a quasi-Victorian concern with the unique fragility and vulnerability of college women…
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What Legal Consequences Will Universities Face if They Don’t Reopen in the Fall?

The nation’s colleges and universities were already struggling financially even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Now, with a sudden shift to online schooling and students no longer on campus, a difficult situation has become dire. According to Christina Paxson, President of Brown University, “A lot of [colleges] were teetering on…
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With Universities Moving to Online-Only Classes, Plagiarism Concerns Evolve

An increasing number of universities have been offering online classes in recent years, but now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual classrooms are the only classrooms.  This has become the sudden necessary reality for every university in the country. With entire student bodies now taking classes and completing tests remotely,…
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Deliberate Indifference: When Universities Don’t Listen and Victims Sue, Who Is Winning and Who Is Losing?

Title IX is a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination.Courts have consistently found that student-on-student sexual harassment is sex-based discrimination and that the university can be held responsible for it if the university remains “deliberately indifferent.” This means paying students damages if they are victimized on campus, but the University…
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