Legal Question in Education Law in Illinois

can a college student be punished for an incident that occurs off campus?


Asked on 10/26/10, 9:47 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Oh, do you mean by the school? Well, possibly yes if there is a student code of conduct that you violated, because very often "town-gown" relationships are critical to a college's ability to call on local law enforcement and in fact may be part of a contract with the local authorities that provide police ON campus, and the college is most likely located in the town where the incident occured. The school doesn't need its students causing problems in the "host" town. If you received some kind of notice from the college you should take it to an attorney to look at. The notion of "in loco parentis" where the school is your mommy and daddy while you are enrolled so that you are protected from things like this, is pretty much dead in our country; students are responsible for behavior ON and OFF campus and repercussions can be in both the local police and college venues.

The response given is not intended to create, nor does it create an ongoing duty to respond to questions. The response does not form an attorney-client relationship, nor is it intended to be anything other than the educated opinion of the author. It should not be relied upon as legal advice. The response given is based upon the limited facts provided by the person asking the question. To the extent additional or different facts exist, the response might possibly change. Attorney is licensed to practice law only in the State of Illinois. Responses are based solely on Illinois law unless stated otherwise.

Read more
Answered on 10/31/10, 12:54 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Education Law questions and answers in Illinois