Opinion ID: 488009
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Administrative Agency Analogy

Text: 53 Howard University attempts to argue from higher education cases involving public universities, usually involving due process claims, that courts should view the decisions of private universities as if they were made by government agencies. There is no basis for this conceptual leap. See Rosenblum, Legal Dimensions of Tenure, in FACULTY TENURE, supra, at 161 (A tenure plan promulgated by a governing board of a public institution is generally considered a form of sublegislation having the force of law.... In a private institution, any right to tenure is contractual rather than statutory.). The public university cases often involve situations in which there is no contract, or where no contract claim is alleged. See, e.g., Sabet v. Eastern Va. Medical Auth., 775 F.2d 1266 (4th Cir.1985); Levitt v. University of Tex. at El Paso, 759 F.2d 1224 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 599, 88 L.Ed.2d 578 (1985); McDonough v. Trustees of the Univ. Sys. of N.H., 704 F.2d 780 (1st Cir.1983); Bates v. Sponberg, 547 F.2d 325 (6th Cir.1976); Bignall v. North Idaho College, 538 F.2d 243 (9th Cir.1976); Stebbins v. Weaver, 537 F.2d 939 (7th Cir.1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1041, 97 S.Ct. 741, 50 L.Ed.2d 753 (1977); Prebble v. Brodrick, 535 F.2d 605 (10th Cir.1976). Frequently, the only issue in these cases is whether, by taking certain disciplinary action, the university violated due process. By the very nature of such claims, the focus is on the reasonableness of the university's actions. 54 Here, in contrast, there is a contract to review, and it has been brought into issue by the appellant's legal complaint. The reasonableness of the University's actions is relevant only insofar as the actions are consistent with the parties' contract. It would make no sense for a court blindly to defer to a university's interpretation of a tenure contract to which it is an interested party. Moreover, the theory of deference to administrative action flows from prudential concepts of separation of powers, as well as statutory proscriptions on the scope of judicial review. Obviously, none of those factors apply here. The notion of treating a private university as if it were a state or federal administrative agency is simply unsupported where a contract claim is involved. 13 55 In Krotkoff v. Goucher College, 585 F.2d 675 (4th Cir.1978), the court entertained a claim that a private college breached its contract by terminating the appointment of a tenured professor due to financial exigencies. The college attempted to shield its decision from judicial scrutiny, arguing by analogy to public university cases. The court correctly rejected the analogy: 56 [The public university] cases, however, generally have involved the application of the fourteenth amendment to state institutions or the interpretation of statutes prohibiting racial or sexual discrimination. Since Goucher is a private college and Krotkoff does not allege the type of unlawful conduct proscribed by civil rights acts, the cases on which the college relies to forestall judicial inquiry are not dispositive. 57 Krotkoff's claims must be resolved by reference to her contract. This involves ascertaining, first, what contractual rights she had, and second, whether the college breached them. 58 585 F.2d at 681-82.