You are here: / / UNIVERSITY STUDENTS WERE CHARGED WITH VIOLATIONS OF THE CODE OF CONDUCT...
,

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS WERE CHARGED WITH VIOLATIONS OF THE CODE OF CONDUCT STEMMING FROM THE RELEASE OF VIDEO CLIPS DEPICTING SKITS PERFORMED AT A ROAST HELD BY A FRATERNITY; THE SKITS INCLUDED RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS SLURS AND SIMULATED SEXUAL ACTIVITY AND VIOLENCE; THE 4TH DEPARTMENT HELD THAT THE DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURES COMPORTED WITH THE RULES, THE CODE VIOLATIONS WERE SUPPORTED BY THE EVIDENCE AND THE SANCTIONS DID NOT SHOCK ONE’S SENSE OF FAIRNESS; A STRONG DISSENT ARGUED THE CODE PROVISION PURPORTING TO PROHIBIT SPEECH WHICH “THREATENS” THE “MENTAL HEALTH” OF A PERSON IS SO VAGUE THAT IT CAN NOT SUPPORT A CONVICTION (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, over a dissent, affirmed Supreme Court in this Article 78 proceeding contesting the disciplinary procedures used by Syracuse University (respondent), the disciplinary provisions of the respondent’s Code of Student Conduct, and the punishment imposed by respondent on the petitioners (students). The petitioners participated in a roast held by their fraternity which was videotaped. The videotaped skits “included dialogue in which students professed hatred for persons of certain races, ethnicities, and religions while using slurs to refer to those groups, and depictions of simulated sexual activity and sexual violence directed at persons imitating women and a disabled individual.” Eventually portions of the video were made public. Petitioners were afforded a group hearing and were found to have violated the charged code provisions. Sanctions which included one or two-year suspensions were imposed. After noting that private colleges are not held to constitutional free speech and due process standards, the Fourth Department determined the disciplinary procedures substantially complied with the code provisions, the evidence supported the charged code violations and the sanctions did not shock one’s sense of fairness. The dissent focused on one of the charged code provisions which prohibits “[c]onduct—whether physical, verbal or electronic, oral, written or video—which threatens the mental health, physical health, or safety of any person or persons including, but not limited to hazing, drug or alcohol abuse, bullying or other forms of destructive behavior:”

​FROM THE DISSENT:

… [T]here is one aspect of this case that I cannot reconcile with the applicable law, namely, respondent’s decision to convict petitioners of violating Section 3 of the Code. … Section 3 empowers respondent to punish any student for “[a]ssistance, participation in, promotion of, or perpetuation of conduct—whether physical, verbal[,] electronic, oral, written or video—which threatens the mental health . . . of any person or persons” … . * * *

… [D]oes that provision create any distinction between speech that merely offends and speech that truly harms another person’s psychological, psychiatric, or neuro-cognitive functioning? … [H]ow does Section 3 channel the factfinder’s discretion so as to punish only the latter and not the former? … [T]he staggering breadth of the provision is matched only by its indefiniteness, and it effectively serves as a systemic instrument for the suppression of any viewpoint that falls outside the zone of permissible opinion decreed by the most strident and self-righteous of the campus community. To convict petitioners under such a vague and standardless diktat is, to my mind, the very embodiment of arbitrary and capricious administrative decision-making that should be annulled under CPLR article 78 … . Matter of John Doe 1 v Syracuse Univ., 2020 NY Slip Op 06586, Fourth Dept 11-13-20

 

You might also like
DEFENDANT’S CONVICTIONS RELATING TO THE CODEFENDANT’S POSSESSION AND FIRING OF A WEAPON DURING A ROBBERY AT WHICH DEFENDANT WAS NOT PRESENT WERE BASED UPON LEGALLY INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE; DEFENDANT’S CONVICTION OF POSSESSION OF A WEAPON BASED UPON THE CODEFENDANT’S GETTING INTO DEFENDANT’S CAR WITH THE WEAPON WAS AGAINST THE WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE (FOURTH DEPT).
DEFENSE COUNSEL WAS NOT INEFFECTIVE FOR FAILURE TO MOVE TO SUPPRESS THE RESULTS OF THE WARRANTLESS SEARCH OF A GARBAGE BAG AND CELL-SITE LOCATION RECORDS WHICH WERE JUSTIFIED BY EXIGENT CIRCUMSTANCES , AND DEFENSE COUNSEL WAS NOT INEFFECTIVE FOR FAILING TO OBJECT TO THE PROSECUTOR’S MISCHARACTERIZATION OF THE STRENGTH OF DNA EVIDENCE (FOURTH DEPT).
FOR PURPOSES OF CLAIMANT’S ACTION FOR WRONGFUL CONVICTION AND IMPRISONMENT, THE TRIAL ORDER OF DISMISSAL IN THE CRIMINAL TRIAL WAS THE EQUIVALENT OF AN ACQUITTAL (FOURTH DEPT).
THE TAKING BY EMINENT DOMAIN OF PETITIONER’S DECOMMISSIONED ELECTRIC GENERATING STATION AND WATER INTAKE STRUCTURES ON THE NIAGARA RIVER SERVED A PUBLIC PURPOSE; THE DISSENT ARGUED THE TOWN SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO TAKE PROPERTY AND THEN USE IT FOR EXACTLY THE SAME PURPOSE FOR WHICH THE PETITIONER IS NOW USING IT, I.E., ALLOWING BUSINESSES ACCESS TO INEXPENSIVE RAW WATER (FOURTH DEPT).
POLICE OFFICER’S OPINION A HOMICIDE HAD BEEN COMMITTED AND THE VICTIM’S MOTHER’S TESTIMONY ABOUT THE VICTIM’S PERSONAL BACKGROUND SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ADMITTED; OPINION ISSUE REVIEWED IN THE INTEREST OF JUSTICE; MANSLAUGHTER CONVICTION REVERSED (FOURTH DEPT).
FAMILY COURT DID NOT MAKE THE REQUISITE FINDINGS IN THIS CUSTODY MATTER WHERE A GRANDPARENT WAS SEEKING CUSTODY, MATTER REMITTED; ASSUMING FAMILY COURT’S ORDER WAS NOT FINAL, THE NOTICE OF APPEAL WAS DEEMED AN APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL; THE DISSENT ARGUED THE ORDER IS NOT APPEALABLE (FOURTH DEPT).
DEFENDANT INSURANCE AGENT WAS NOT UNDER A DUTY TO NOTIFY THE INSURER OF THE INSURED’S DEATH OR TO MAKE SURE ADDITIONAL INSUREDS WERE NAMED ON THE POLICY AFTER THE INSURED’S DEATH; THE DECEDENT’S DAUGHTER CONTINUED TO PAY THE HOUSE INSURANCE PREMIUMS AFTER HER MOTHER’S DEATH, WHEN THE HOUSE WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE THE INSURER DISCLAIMED COVERAGE BECAUSE ONLY THE DECEDENT WAS NAMED ON THE POLICY (FOURTH DEPT).
Father Whose Parental Rights Had Been Terminated Had Standing to Seek Modification or Vacatur of Order of Protection

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2025 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

A CRUCIAL DOCUMENT SUBMITTED TO PROVE THE AMOUNT OF A MEDICAID LIEN SHOULD NOT... DEFENDANT’S PRESENCE NEAR A SUSPECTED DRUG HOUSE IN A HIGH CRIME AREA...