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.
1 Answer from Attorneys
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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