BEREA COLLEGE Kate Bumhoffer Eating houses and places of - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

GOTT V. BEREA COLLEGE

Kate Bumhoffer

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Berea College Students Manual

Eating houses and places of amusement in Berea, not controlled by the college, must not be entered by students on pain of immediate dismission. The institution provides for the recreation of its students, and ample accommodation for meals and refreshment, and cannot permit outside parties to solicit student patronage for gain.

FACTS OF THE CASE

• Private institution
• “inexperienced country, mountain

boys and girls of very little means”

• Students Manual forbids businesses

with bad reputations

• New rule in summer of 1911
• Gott bought restaurant in fall of

1911, down the street from Berea College

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

• Gott obtained temporary restraining order
• Charged Berea College with conspiring to ruin business & spreading rumors
• Asked for $2,000 in damages
• Berea College denied accusations
• Didn’t know Gott would own the restaurant
• Private college, rules were lawful & in students’ best interests
• Restraining order dissolved, case dismissed

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

• No assignments of error cited
• Assume Gott appealed since case

just “dismissed” (?)

KENTUCKY COURT OF APPEALS

• Main Question: New rule

reasonable & within their power?

• Does Gott have actual legal

complaint?

HOLDING

• Colleges act in loco parentis
• Berea College’s rules in students’ best interests, ensured welfare of school
• Admission to the college = students agree to rules
• Private institution, rules not in conflict with state
• Gott had no contract with Berea College, didn’t owe him anything
• In no position to complain, isn’t a student & no children enrolled at Berea

SO WHAT?

• Reinforced idea of in loco parentis
• Rules can concern students’ physical,

moral & mental welfare/training

• Rules aren’t confined to class hours or

school grounds

• Students agree to college rules upon

admission

• Businesses inconvenienced but not

lawfully wronged