Opinion ID: 2167424
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: The programming of key cards.

Text: The Varners claim that Gallaudet violated a national standard of care by failing to program their key cards to prevent students from entering dormitories other than their own. When asked whether most universities restricted access in this way in 2001, the year in which Benjamin Varner was murdered, Mr. Bates responded that he did not know, because he had not done a survey on the subject. He indicated, however, that five years prior to 2001 it was adopted by their own industry trade group as an accepted practice. The witness was apparently referring to a recommended practice of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) adopted in 1996 and published in IACLEA's The Complete Campus Crime Prevention Manual. The Manual itself makes it clear, however, that the IACLEA's recommendations were not standards but aspirational goals: Recognizing that academic environments vary widelyas do the safety and security risks they experience these recommended practices are not intended to serve as a formal security code or set of standards. Rather, they are designed to represent optimum crime prevention practices for colleges and universities. Although crime prevention practices are recommended, institutions may elect to develop appropriate alternatives to these recommendations. (Emphasis added.) [12] Aspirational practices do not establish the standard of care which the plaintiff must prove in support of an allegation of negligence. Messina v. District of Columbia, 663 A.2d 535, 538 (D.C.1995). To paraphrase what we stated in a different but somewhat analogous context in Clark, 708 A.2d at 636, [t]o hold otherwise would create the perverse incentive for [universities and their administrators] to write [their manuals] in such a manner as to impose minimal duties upon [universities] in order to limit civil liability. Moreover, even the aspirational policy favored by the IACLEA arguably has no application to this case. Mesa had lived in Cogswell Hall prior to Plunkett's murder, but together with some other students, he was moved to Krug Hall after that event. On the night that he murdered Benjamin Varner, some of his belongings were still at Cogswell Hall, and he was in the process of moving between Cogswell Hall and his new dormitory, Krug Hall. That evening, according to Mesa, he was admitted to Cogswell Hall by a Resident Assistant with whom he signed in, ostensibly so that he (Mesa) could rent a dolly in order to move his belongings. After Mesa was permitted entry into the dormitory, Benjamin Varner voluntarily admitted Mesa to Benjamin's room, which had a bolt lock. Mr. Bates candidly acknowledged that he had no opinion regarding whether the applicable standard of care was violated under these circumstances.