Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Florida

Illegal Search

Is it legal in Florida for a private college to do random room searches

where the student is ordered out of the dorm room, told that she can not

take her purse with her and the room door being locked preventing her

from entering her room while RA's (Resident Assistants, students

themselves) search through her possessions without a school official being present?

Is it legal even with a school official present?

Is it legal in either case without the consent of the students parents?

Note: My daughter has done nothing wrong. The searches are done

randomly. I'm okay with the random searches and fully support them but

NOT with her having to be forced from the room while leaving her purse

in the hands of strangers when it contains her cash, credit/ATM cards,

drivers license, personal identification, Social Security card,

prescription medication, check book and so on. If students refuse to comply, they will be permanently expelled from the campus. I question the legality of this.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide in answering my

questions.


Asked on 2/03/02, 5:53 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Kenneth J. Ashman Ashman Law Offices, LLC

Re: Illegal Search

Without doing specific research on the issue, my gut reaction is that something is amiss. Despite being in school, you should have a zone of privacy about which state-actors cannot enter without a warrant. I could see that zone being smaller as a student in a dorm as compared to a citizen in their own homes, but, again, my gut reaction is that this goes too far. However, a more certain answer would require specific legal research on the question.

-- Kenneth J. Ashman; Ashman Law Offices, LLC; [email protected]; www.lawyers.com/alo

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Answered on 2/04/02, 12:21 pm


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