Legal Question in Appeals and Writs in United States

It would help to have more information. Is your university public or private? This matters because there are restrictions on what the government -- including its colleges and universities -- may do, which don't apply to private entities. Also, were the police who entered your room members of the university's own police department, or were they with some other agency? If the officers acted improperly (that's a big "if") and were employed by the university, it would be responsible for their misconduct and might not be entitled to use the fruits of that misconduct against you.

Whether the officers were allowed to enter your room is a complicated legal question. Most fire marshalls aren't lawyers, so this particular marshall's opinion about the search probably won't count for much. That the alarm had malfunctioned matters, of course, but police officers aren't clairvoyant. Their conduct will be judged based on the information available to them at the time, and not on what later turned out to be true.

Police can sometimes enter private property without permission or a warrant. This is allowed, for example, when they are dealing with an emergency where people's lives or safety appear to be in imminent danger. Note that I said "appears to be." If the officers believed there might be a fire in your room and/or that people inside were in danger, and if that belief was reasonable under the circumstances, then they were allowed to enter.

Police who see evidence of crimes while they are properly carrying out their duties don't have to ignore it, even if it has nothing to do with what they were working on at the time. But it makes a difference where the officers found the pipe, etc., since just being allowed to enter a room doesn't mean they may search for contraband without permission or a warrant. If the police saw these items because they were out in the open, then they didn't do anything wrong. But that doesn't mean they were entitled to rifle through your dresser to see what they could come up with.

As you can see, this is a nuanced area of the law. Here is another wrinkle: If the police saw some evidence of a crime and detained you for it, they were allowed to search your person and surroundings for weapons or other threats to their safety. That kind of search often turns up further evidence, which may or may not be admissible later depending on the circumstances.

When I say "admissible," I mean in a court of law. A university's disciplinary system does not have to follow the rules that would apply in court, and a private university would have even more leeway than a public one. And as I said before, it matters whether the police worked for the university. If they did, then any violation was the university's fault. Whether that would prevent the school from using the evidence will depend on many factors, including the laws of your state, the terms of your housing and enrollment contracts, the university's disciplinary rules, etc. But even if the officers were from a local police department, there may be limits on what the university may do with the evidence -- especially if the university is public.

But your question isn't even about whether you can be disciplined or whether this evidence could be used against you. It's about whether you can sue the university for even *trying* to discipline you. I don't see grounds for such a lawsuit. Here again, though, I don't have enough information. I might see things differently if I knew more about the specifics.

There are a lot of variables in cases like this. I've only been able to address some of them here. You should consult with a local attorney if at all possible. After you answer some questions, she will have a better sense of the applicable rules and of what happened, and will be able to help you understand your rights.

Good luck.