The Trials of Academe: The New Era of Campus Litigation

by Amy Gajda

Once upon a time, virtually no one in the academy thought to sue over campus disputes, and, if they dared, judges bounced the case on grounds that it was no business of the courts. Tenure decisions, grading curves, course content, and committee assignments were the stuff of faculty meetings, not lawsuits.

Not so today. As Amy Gajda shows in this witty yet troubling book, litigation is now common on campus, and perhaps even more commonly feared. Professors sue each other for defamation based on assertions in research articles or tenure review letters; students sue professors for breach of contract when an F prevents them from graduating; professors threaten to sue students for unfairly criticizing their teaching.

Gajda’s lively account introduces the new duo driving the the litigious academic who sees academic prerogative as a matter of legal entitlement and the skeptical judge who is increasingly willing to set aside decades of academic deference to pronounce campus rights and responsibilities.

This turn to the courts is changing campus life, eroding traditional notions of academic autonomy and confidentiality, and encouraging courts to micromanage course content, admissions standards, exam policies, graduation requirements, and peer review.

This book explores the origins and causes of the litigation trend, its implications for academic freedom, and what lawyers, judges, and academics themselves can do to limit the potential damage.

360 pages, Hardcover

First published October 30, 2009

About the author

Amy Gajda is the Class of 1937 Professor of Law at Tulane Law School, a former jour­nalist, and one of the country's top experts on privacy and the media. She was an award-winning legal commentator on Illinois public radio stations and has written for The New York Times and Slate and provided expert commentary for The New Yorker, The Guardian, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, as well as C-SPAN, CBS Mornings, and many more. She lives in New Orleans.

Reviews

[Jerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting review of how the universities are becoming more like corporations; at least in the view of the law. Worth reading for those who care about the well-being of higher learning.

The author specifically mentions (amoung many examples), how the over-crowded legal profession and the difficulty law graduates from middle level schools cannot find high paying jobs, has lead to multiple lawsuits over grades, etc. she fails to mention the obvious that this plethora of lawyers is probably also leading to the increase in lawsuits in general. These lawyers have to make a living somehow.

It is an old and proven axiom that a suit filed by one lawyer automatically guarentees work for at least one, and likely more than one, other lawyer to represent the defendent(s).

[Kevin Altman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.....I've read better. Difficult read unless you have a well established vocabulary containing both higher ed and legal jargon.