Learning what's legal -
Parker Young: Legal Issues in Higher Education

If a college group or club wants to demonstrate on campus, are they guaranteed that right under the first amendment?

Parker Young, a nationally-renowned higher education legal issues expert, answered that question and many more for college personnel during a Legal Issues in Higher Education forum at Southwestern Community College on Thursday, Jan. 5.

"Yes," Young told the educators, "students are guaranteed the right to demonstrate. However, the college can specify a valid time, place and manner." For instance, Young explained, the college can tell the group exactly where they may demonstrate and the specific day and time they may do so.

Parker Young, left, a nationally-renowned higher education legal issues expert, profiled Legal Issues in Higher Education during a recent forum at Southwestern Community College. With Young are, from left, SCC President Cecil Groves and Gene Couch, SCC vice president for instruction and student services.

Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia where he has taught law and higher education for 35 years, Young also addressed legal issues like who has access to a student's official records, how to accommodate students with disabilities, what constitutes a contract between a student and a college, due process, sexual harassment and North Carolina's social host liability law.

"As educators what you must provide for your students are three vital things," said Young, past president of the National Organization on Legal Problems in Education. "You must provide appropriate and adequate supervision, you must provide appropriate and adequate instruction and you must provide facilities that are kept in a state of reasonable repair."

Young received the Outstanding Contribution to Literature or Research Award by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. In addition, that organization named him a "Pillar of the Profession." The Association for Student Judicial Affairs created the Parker Young Award, to be given annually, to recognize the outstanding scholarly contributions of an individual in the area of higher education law and judicial affairs. He has authored many books, such as The Yearbook of Higher Education Law, and is a contributing and consulting editor for several publications.

Representations from five other colleges attended the event sponsored by SCC and the Western Regional Center for Excellence in Teaching and funded through the NC-NET initiative.

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