Court Opinion

ID: 9448140
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 23:24:07.986332+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:31:18.361165
License: Public Domain

RIVES, Circuit Judge.
The question presented by the pleadings and evidence,1 and decisive of this appeal, is whether due process requires notice and some opportunity for hearing before students at a tax-supported college are expelled for misconduct. We answer that question in the affirmative.
The misconduct for which the students were expelled has never been definitely specified. Defendant Trenholm, the President of the College, testified that he did not know why the plaintiffs and three additional students were expelled and twenty other students were placed on probation. The notice of expulsion2 *152which Dr. Trenholm mailed to each of the plaintiffs assigned no specific ground for expulsion, but referred in general terms to “this problem of Alabama State College.”
The acts of the students considered by the State Board of Education before it ordered their expulsion are described in the opinion of the district court reported in 186 F.Supp. 945, 947, from which we quote in the margin.3
As shown by the findings of the district court, just quoted in footnote 3, the only demonstration which the evidence showed that all of the expelled students took part in was that in the lunch grill located in the basement of the Montgomery County Courthouse. The other *153demonstrations were found to be attended “by several if not all of the plaintiffs.” We have carefully read and studied the record, and agree with the district court that the evidence does not affirmatively show that all of the plaintiffs were present at any but the one demonstration.
Only one member of the State Board of Education assigned the demonstration attended by all of the plaintiffs as the sole basis for his vote to expel them. Mr. Harry Ayers testified:
“Q. Mr. Ayers, did you vote to expel these negro students because they went to the Court House and asked to be served at the white lunch counter? A. No, I voted because they violated a law of Alabama.
“Q. What law of Alabama had they violated? A. That separating of the races in public places of that kind.
“Q. And the fact that they went up there and requested service, by violating the Alabama law, then you voted to have them expelled? A. Yes.
“Q. And that is your reason why you voted ? A. That is the reason.”
The most elaborate grounds for expulsion were assigned in the testimony of Governor Patterson:
“Q. There is an allegation in the complaint, Governor, that- — I believe it is paragraph six, the defendants’ action of expulsion was taken without regard to any valid rule or regulation concerning student conduct and merely retaliated against, punished, and sought to intimidate plaintiffs for having lawfully sought .service in a publicly owned lunch room with service; is that statement true or false?
“A. Well, that is not true; the action taken by the State Board of Education was — was taken to prevent — to prevent incidents happening by students at the College that would bring — bring discredit upon— upon the School and be prejudicial to the School, and the State — as I said before,’ the State Board of Education took — considered at the time it expelled these students several incidents, one at the Court House at the lunch room demonstration, the one the next day at the trial of this student, the marching on the steps of the State Capitol, and also this rally held at the church, where ■ — where it was reported that — that statements were made against the administration of the School. In addition to that, the — the feeling going around in the community here due to — due to the reports of these incidents of the students, by the students, and due to reports of incidents occurring involving violence in other States, which happened prior to these things starting here in Alabama, all of these things were discussed by the State Board of Education prior to the taking of the action that they did on March 2 and as I was present and acting as Chairman, as a member of the Board, I voted to expel these students and to put these others on probation because I felt that that was what was in the best interest of the College. And the — I felt that the action should be — should be prompt and immediate, because if something— ■ something had not been done, in my opinion, it would have resulted in violence and disorder, and that we wanted to prevent, and we felt that we had a duty to the — to the — to the parents of the students and to the State to require that the students behave themselves while they are attending a State College, and that is (sic) the reasons why we took the action that we did. That is all.”
Superintendent of Education Stewart testified that he voted for expulsion because the students had broken rules and regulations pertaining to all of the State institutions, and, when required to be more specific, testified:
“The Court: What rule had been broken is the question, that justi*154fied the expulsion insofar as he is concerned ?
“A. I think demonstrations without the consent of the president of an institution.”
The testimony of other members of the Board assigned somewhat varying and differing grounds and reasons for their votes to expel! the plaintiffs.
The district court found the general nature of the proceedings before the State Board of Education, the action of the Board, and the official notice of expulsion given to the students as follows:
“Investigations into this conduct were made by Dr. Trenholm, as president of the Alabama State College, the Director of Public Safety for the State of Alabama under directions of the Governor, and by the investigative staff of the Attorney General for the State of Alabama.
“On or about March 2, 1960, the State Board of Education met and received reports from the Governor of the State of Alabama, w’hich reports embodied the investigations that had been made and which reports identified these six plaintiffs, together with several others, as the ‘ring leaders’ for the group of students that had been participating in the above-recited activities. During this meeting, Dr. Trenholm, in his capacity as president of the college reported to the assembled members of the State Board of Education that the action of these students in demonstrating on the college campus and in certain downtown areas was having a disruptive influence on the work of the other students at the college and upon the orderly operation of the college in general. Dr. Trenholm further reported to the Board that, in his opinion, he as president of the college could not control future disruptions and demonstrations. There were twenty-nine of the Negro students identified as the core of the organization that was responsible for these demonstrations. This group of twenty-nine included these six plaintiffs. After hearing these reports and recommendations and upon the recommendation of the Governor as chairman of the Board, the Board voted unanimously, expelling nine students, including these six plaintiffs, and placing twenty students on probation. This action was taken by Dr. Trenholm as president of the college, acting pursuant to the instructions of the State Board of Education. Each of these plaintiffs, together with the other students expelled, was officially notified of his expulsion on March 4th or 5th, I960.4 No formal charges were placed against these students and no hearing was granted any of them prior to their expulsion.”
“4 [Same as footnote 2, supra, of this opinion.]”
Dixon v. Alabama State Board of Education, D.C.M.D.Ala.1960, 186 F.Supp. 945, 948, 949.
The evidence clearly shows that the question for decision does not concern the sufficiency of the notice or the adequacy of the hearing, but is whether the students had a right to any notice or hearing whatever before being expelled.4 *155The district court wrote at some length on that question, as appears from its opinion. Dixon v. Alabama State Board of Education, supra, 186 F.Supp. at pages 950-952. After careful study and consideration, we find ourselves unable to agree with the conclusion of the district court that no notice or opportunity for any kind of hearing was required before these students were expelled.
It is true, as the district court said, that “ * * * there is no statute or rule that requires formal charges and/or a hearing * * but the evidence is without dispute that the usual practice at Alabama State College had been to give a hearing and opportunity to offer defenses before expelling a student. Defendant Trenholm, the College President, testified:
“Q. The essence of the question was, will you relate to the Court the usual steps that are taken when a student’s conduct has developed to the point where it is necessary for the administration to punish him for that conduct?
“A. We normally would have conference with the student and notify him that he was being asked to withdraw, and we would indicate why he was being asked to withdraw. That would be applicable to academic reasons, academic deficiency, as well as to any conduct difficulty.
“Q. And at this hearing ordinarily that you would set, then the student would have a right to offer whatever defense he may have to the charges that have been brought against him?
“A. Yes.”
Whenever a governmental body acts so as to injure an individual, the Constitution requires that the act be consonant with due process of law. The minimum procedural requirements necessary to satisfy due process depend upon the circumstances and the interests of the parties involved. As stated by Mr. Justice Frankfurter concurring in Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath, 1951, 341 U.S. 123, 163, 71 S.Ct. 624, 644, 95 L.Ed. 817:
“Whether the ex parte procedure to which the petitioners were subjected duly observed ‘the rudiments of fair play’, * * * cannot * * be tested by mere generalities or sentiments abstractly appealing. The precise nature of the interest that has been adversely affected, the manner in which this was done, the reasons for doing it, the available alternatives to the procedure that was followed, the protection implicit in the office of the functionary whose conduct is challenged, the balance of hurt complained of and good accomplished — these are some of the considerations that must enter into the judicial judgment.”
*156Just last month, a closely divided Supreme Court held in a case where the governmental power was almost absolute and the private interest was slight that no hearing was required. Cafeteria and Restaurant Workers Union v. McElroy et al., 1961, 81 S.Ct. 1743. In that case, a short-order cook working for a privately operated cafeteria on the premises of the Naval Gun Factory in the City of Washington was excluded from the Gun Factory as a security risk. So, too, the due process clause does not require that an alien never admitted to this Country be granted a hearing before being excluded. United States ex rel. Knauff v. Shaughnessy, 1950, 338 U.S. 537, 542, 543, 70 S.Ct. 309, 94 L.Ed. 317. In such case the executive power as implemented by Congress to exclude aliens is absolute and not subject to the review of any court, unless expressly authorized by Congress. On the other hand, once an alien has been admitted to lawful residence in the United States and remains physically present here it has been held that, “although Congress may prescribe conditions for his expulsion and deportation, not even Congress may expel him without allowing him a fair opportunity to be heard.” Kwong Hai Chew v. Colding, 1953, 344 U.S. 590, 597, 598, 73 S.Ct. 472, 478, 97 L.Ed. 576.
It is not enough to say, as did the district court in the present case, “The right to attend a public college or university is not in and of itself a constitutional right.” 186 F.Supp. at page 950. That argument was emphatically answered by the Supreme Court in the Cafeteria and Restaurant Workers Union case, supra, [81 S.Ct. 1748.] when it said that the question of whether “ * * * summarily denying Rachel Brawner access to the site of her former employment violated the requirements of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment * * * cannot be answered by easy assertion that, because she had no constitutional right to be there in the first place, she was not deprived of liberty or property by the Superintendent’s action. ‘One may not have a constitutional right to go to Bagdad, but the Government may not prohibit one from going there unless by means consonant with due process of law.’ ” As in that case, so here, it is necessary to consider “the nature both of the private interest which has been impaired and the governmental power which has been exercised.”
The appellees urge upon us that under a provision of the Board of Education’s regulations the appellants waived any right to notice and a hearing before being expelled for misconduct.
“Attendance at any college is on the basis of a mutual decision of the student’s parents and of the college. Attendance at a particular college is voluntary and is different from attendance at a public school where the pupil may be required to attend a particular school which is located in the neighborhood or district in which the pupil’s family may live. Just as a student may choose to withdraw from a particular college at any time for any personally-determined reason, the college may also at any time decline to continue to accept responsibility for the supervision and service to any student with whom the relationship becomes unpleasant and difficult.”
We do not read this provision to clearly indicate an intent on the part of the student to waive notice and a hearing before expulsion. If, however, we should so assume, it nonetheless remains true that the State cannot condition the granting of even a privilege upon the renunciation of the constitutional right to procedural due process. See Slochower v. Board of Education, 1956, 350 U.S. 551, 555, 76 S.Ct. 637, 100 L.Ed. 692; Wieman v. Updegraff, 1952, 344 U.S. 183, 191, 192, 73 S.Ct. 215, 97 L.Ed. 216; United Public Workers of America (C.I.O.) v. Mitchell, 1947, 330, U.S. 75, 100, 67 S.Ct. 556, 91 L.Ed. 754; Shelton v. Tucker, 1960, 364 U.S. 479, 81 S.Ct. 247, 5 L.Ed.2d 231. Only private associations have the right to obtain á waiver of notice and hearing before depriving *157a member of a valuable right. And even here, the right to notice and a hearing is so fundamental to the conduct of our society that the waiver must be clear and explicit. Medical and Surgical Society of Montgomery County v. Weatherly, 75 Ala. 248, 256-259. In the absence of such an explicit waiver, Alabama has required that even private associations must provide notice and a hearing before expulsion. In Medical and Surgical Society of Montgomery County v. Weatherly, supra, it was held that a physician could not be expelled from a medical society without notice and a hearing. In Local Union No. 57, etc. v. Boyd, 1944, 245 Ala. 227, 16 So.2d 705, 711, a local union was ordered to reinstate one of its members expelled after a hearing of which he had insufficient notice.
The precise nature of the private interest involved in this case is the right to remain at a public institution of higher learning in which the plaintiffs were students in good standing. It requires no argument to demonstrate that education is vital and, indeed, basic to civilized society. Without sufficient education the plaintiffs would not be able to earn an adequate livelihood, to enjoy life to the fullest, or to fulfill as completely as possible the duties and responsibilities of good citizens.
There was no offer to prove that other colleges are open to the plaintiffs. If so, the plaintiffs would nonetheless be injured by the interruption of their course of studies in mid-term. It is most unlikely that a public college would accept a student expelled from another public college of the same state. Indeed, expulsion may well prejudice the student in completing his education at any other institution. Surely no one can question that the right to remain at the college in which the plaintiffs were students in good standing is an interest of extremely great value.
Turning then to the nature of the governmental power to expel the plaintiffs, it must be conceded, as was held by the district court, that that power is not unlimited and cannot be arbitrarily exercised. Admittedly, there must be some reasonable and constitutional ground for expulsion or the courts would have a duty to require reinstatement. The possibility of arbitrary action is not excluded by the existence of reasonable regulations. There may be arbitrary application of the rule to the facts of a particular case. Indeed, that result is well nigh inevitable when the Board hears only one side of the issue. In the disciplining of college students there are no considerations of immediate danger to the public, or of peril to the national security, which should prevent the Board from exercising at least the fundamental principles of fairness by giving the accused students notice of the charges and an opportunity to be heard in their own defense. Indeed, the example set by the Board in failing so to do, if not corrected by the courts, can well break the spirits of the expelled students and of others familiar with the injustice, and do inestimable harm to their education.
The district court, however, felt that it was governed by precedent, and stated that, “the courts have consistently upheld the validity of regulations that have the effect of reserving to the college the right to dismiss students at any time for any reason without divulging its reason other than its being for the general benefit of the institution.” [186 F. Supp. 951.] With deference, we must hold that the district court has simply misinterpreted the precedents.
The language above quoted from the. district court is based upon language found in 14 C.J.S. Colleges and Universities § 26, p. 1360, which, in turn, is paraphrased from Anthony v. Syracuse University, 224 App.Div. 487, 231 N.Y.S. 435, reversing 130 Misc.2d 249, 223 N.Y.S. 796, 797. (14 C.J.S. Colleges and Universities § 26, pp. 1360, 1363 note 70.) This case, however, concerns a private university and follows the well-settled rule that the relations between a student and a private university are a matter of contract. The Anthony case held that the plaintiffs had specifically *158waived their rights to notice and hearing. See also Barker v. Bryn Mawr, 1923, 278 Pa. 121, 122 A. 220. The precedents for public colleges are collected in a recent annotation cited by the district court. 58 A.L.R.2d 903-920. We have read all of the cases cited to the point, and we agree with what the annotator himself says: “The cases involving suspension or expulsion of a student from a public college or university all involve the question whether the hearing given to the student was adequate. In every instance the sufficiency of the hearing was upheld.” 58 A.L.R.2d at page 909. None held that no hearing whatsoever was required. Two cases not found in the annotation have held that some form of hearing is required. In Commonwealth ex rel. Hill v. McCauley, 1886, 3 Pa.Co.Ct.R. 77, the court went so far as to say that an informal presentation of the charges was insufficient and that a state-supported college must grant a student a full hearing on the charges before expulsion for misconduct. In Gleason v. University of Minnesota, 1908, 104 Minn. 359, 116 N.W. 650, on reviewing the overruling of the state’s demurrer to a petition for mandamus for reinstatement, the court held that the plaintiff stated a prima facie case upon showing that he had been expelled without a hearing for alleged insufficiency in work and acts of insubordination against the faculty.
The appellees rely also upon Lucy v. Adams, D.C.N.D.Ala,1957, 134 F.Supp. 235, where Autherine Lucy was expelled from the University of Alabama without notice or hearing. That case, however, is not in point. Autherine Lucy did not raise the issue of an absence of notice or hearing.
It was not a case denying any hearing whatsoever but one passing upon the adequacy of the hearing,5 which provoked from Professor Warren A. Seavey of Harvard the eloquent comment:
“At this time when many are worried about dismissal from public service, when only because of the overriding need to protect the public safety is the identity of informers kept secret, when we proudly contrast the full hearings before our courts with those in the benighted countries which have no due process protection, when many of our courts are so careful in the protection of those charged with crimes that they will not permit the use of evidence illegally obtained, our sense of justice should be outraged by denial to students of the normal safeguards. It is shocking that the officials of a state educational institution, which can function properly only if our freedoms are preserved, should not understand the elementary principles of fair play. It is equally shocking to find that a court supports them in denying to a student the protection given to a pickpocket.”
Dismissal of Students: “Due Process,” Warren A. Seavey, 70 Harvard Law Review 1406, 1407. We are confident that precedent as well as a most fundamental constitutional principle support our holding that due process requires notice and some opportunity for hearing before a student at a tax-supported college is expelled for misconduct.
For the guidance of the parties in the event of further proceedings, we state our views on the nature of the notice and hearing required by due process prior to expulsion from a state college or university. They should, we think, comply with the following standards. The notice should contain a statement of the specific charges and grounds which, if proven, would justify expulsion under the regulations of the Board of Education. The nature of the hearing should vary depending upon the circumstances of the particular case. The case before us requires something more than an informal interview with an administrative authority of the college. By its nature, a charge of misconduct, as op*159posed to a failure to meet the scholastic standards of the college, depends upon a collection of the facts concerning the charged misconduct, easily colored by the point of view of the witnesses. In such circumstances, a hearing which gives the Board or the administrative authorities of the college an opportunity to hear both sides in considerable detail is best suited to protect the rights of all involved. This is not to imply that a full-dress judicial hearing, with the right, to cross-examine witnesses, is required. Such a hearing, with the attending publicity and disturbance of college activities, might be detrimental to the college’s educational atmosphere and impractical to carry out. Nevertheless, the rudiments of an adversary proceeding may be preserved without encroaching upon the interests of the college. In the instant case, the student should be given the names of the witnesses against him and an oral or written report on the facts to which each witness testifies. He should also be given the opportunity to present to the Board, or at least to an administrative official of the college, his own defense against the charges and to produce either oral testimony or written affidavits of witnesses in his behalf. If the hearing is not before the Board directly, the results and findings of the hearing should be presented in a report open to the student’s inspection. If these rudimentary elements of fair play are followed in a case of misconduct of this particular type, we feel that the requirements of due process of law will have been fulfilled.
The judgment of the district court is reversed and the cause is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded.

. Letter from Alabama State College, Montgomery, Alabama, dated March 4, 1960, signed by H. Councill Trenholm, President:
“Dear Sir:
“This communication is the official notification of your expulsion from Alabama State College as of the end of the 1960 Winter Quarter.
“As reported through the various news media, The State Board of Education considered this problem of Alabama State College at its meeting on this past Wednesday afternoon. You were one of the students involved in this expulsion-directive by the State Board of Education. I was directed to proceed accordingly.
“On Friday of last week, I had made the recommendation that any subsequently-confirmed action would not be effective until the close of this 1960 Winter Quarter so that each student ’’could thus have the opportunity to take this quarter’s ex*152aminations and to qualify for as much OH-Pt credit as possible for the 1960 Winter Quarter.
“The State Board of Education, which is made responsible for the supervision of the six higher institutions at Montgomery, Normal, Florence, Jacksonville, Livingston, and Troy (each of the other three institutions at Tuscaloosa, Auburn and Montevallo having separate boards) includes the following in its regulations (as carried in page 32 of The 1958-59 Registration-Announcement of Alabama State College):
“ ‘Pupils may be expelled from any of the Colleges:
“ ‘a. For willful disobedience to the rules and regulations established for the conduct of the schools.
“‘b. For willful and continued neglect of studies and continued failure to maintain the standards of efficiency required by the rules and regulations.
“ ‘c. For Conduct Prejudicial to the School and for Conduct Unbecoming a Student or Future Teacher in Schools of Alabama, for Insubordination and Insurrection, or for Inciting Other Pupils to Like Conduct
“ ‘d. For any conduct involving moral turpitude ’ ” '
T . . , , „ In the notice received by each of the students paragraph c, just quoted, was capitalized.

. “On the 25th day of February, 1960, the six plaintiffs in this case were students in good standing at the Alabama State College for Negroes in Montgomery, Alabama * * * On this date, approximately twenty-nine Negro students, including these six plaintiffs, according to a prearranged plan, entered as a group a publicly owned lunch grill located in the basement of the county courthouse in Montgomery, Alabama, and asked to be served. Service was refused; the lunchroom was closed; the Negroes refused to leave; police authorities were summoned; and the Negroes were ordered outside where they remained in the corridor of the courthouse for approximately one hour. On the same date, John Patterson, as Governor of the State of Alabama and as chairman of the State Board of Education, conferred with Dr. Trenholm, a Negro educator and president of the Alabama State College, concerning this activity on the part of some °f the students. Dr. Trenholm was advised by the Governor that the incident should be investigated, and that if he-were in the president’s position he would consider expulsion and/or other appropriate disciplinary action. On February 26, I960, several hundred Negro students. from the Alabama State College, ineluding several if not all of these plaintiffs, staged a mass attendance at a trial being held in the Montgomery County Courthouse, involving the perjury prosecution of a fellow student. After the trial' these students filed two by two from the courthouse and marched through the city approximately two miles back to the enlego. On February 27, 1960, several hundred Negr0 stadents frorl1 tMs s°h°ol> eluding several if not all of the plaintiffs m ^ls case’ staged mass demonstrations, ™ Montgomery and Tuskegee, Alabama, ®.n same date, Dr. Trenholm advised all of the student body that these-demonstrations and meetings were disrupting the orderly conduct of the business at the college and were affecting the work o£ other students, as well as work 0f the participating students. Dr. Trenholm personally warned plaintiffs Bernard Lee, Joseph Peterson and Elroy Embry, to cease these disruptive demonstrations immediately, and advised the-members of the student body at the Alabama State College to behave themselves and return to their classes. * * *
“On or about March 1, 1960, approximately six hundred students of the Alabama State College engaged in hymn singing and speech making on the steps of' the State Capitol. Plaintiff Bernard Lee addressed students at this demonstration, and the demonstration was attended by several if not all of the plaintiffs. Plaintiff Bernard Lee at this time called on the students to strike and boycott the college if any students were expelled because of these demonstrations.”

. The plaintiff Dixon testified:
“Q. Now on that day — from February 25 until the date that you received your letter of expulsion, which you have already identified, will you tell the Court whether any person at the College gave you any official notice that your conduct was unbecoming as a student of Alabama State College? A. No.
“Q. Did the president or any other person at the College arrange for any type of hearing where you had an opportunity to present your side prior to the time you were expelled? A. No.
“Q. Tour answer was no? A. No.” The testimony of Governor Patterson, Chairman of the State Board of Education, was in accord:
“Q. Did the State Board of Education, prior to the time it expelled the plaintiffs, give them an opportunity to appear either before the College or before the *155Board in order to present their sides of this pic — of this incident? A. No, other than receiving the report from Dr. Trenholm about it.
“Q. Did the Board direct Dr. Trenholm to give the students formal notice of why they were expelled? A. No, the Board — the Board passed a resolution instructing Dr. Trenholm to expel the students and put twenty on probation, and Dr. Trenholm carried that out.”
State Superintendent of Education Stewart testified:
“Q. Were these students given any type of hearing, or were formal charges filed against them before they were expelled? A. They were — Dr. Trenholm expelled the students; they weren’t given any hearing.
“Q. No hearing? A. I don’t think they would be given a hearing in any of onr schools in this State; if they couldn’t behave themselves, I think they should go home.
“Q. Do you — were they warned at all prior to expulsion? A. Not as I know of; X can’t answer that question. Dr. Trenholm was in the meeting, and that afternoon after the Board meeting, he was given the — the decision, and he was the one who took action.
“Q. When the State Board of Education expels a student, is there any possibility of appeal or any opportunity for him to present his side of the story? A. I never have heard of it.”

. People ex rel. Bluett v. Board of Trustees of University of Illinois, 10 Ill.App. 2d 207, 134 N.E.2d 635, 58 A.L.R.2d 899.