Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Massachusetts

are my legal rights infringed?

Hi, I am a 14 year old (well, going on 15) college student in MA. Upon my acceptance, my mother decided that she will live with me instead of living in dorms. Now, I am in my 2nd year, and after attending some parties (substance free ones), the school held a hearing with me and my mom saying that from now on, I am not allowed to be in dorms at all. They said they have concerns that the dorms is not a good place for an underage, e.g. there is sex, alcohol and all those things...Is that a legitimate concern? Was my 14th Amendment equal protection right violated? Was any of my other rights violated? Thank you so much for your answers.


Asked on 3/05/08, 4:12 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Craig J. Tiedemann Kajko, Weisman & Colasanti, LLP

Re: are my legal rights infringed?

Almost certainly not if the institution is private. Constitutional rights can only be violated by "state (i.e., governmental) actors." The only potential claim would be under Massachusetts equal access to housing or public accomodation statutes, but the claim would fail for the reasons discussed next.

Probably not, even if the school is a public institution (or significantly publicly-funded). The (public) school's legitimate concerns for your health, safety and welfare justify their reasonable restrictions on your dorm access. In order to succeed on a constitutional claim, you would likely be required to show that the dorm restriction has no "rational relationship" to the (public) school's legitimate interest in protecting your and others' health, safety and welfare, and is otherwise an "arbitrary and capricious" restriction. This is a nearly impossible legal standard to overcome, especiy when health, safety and public welfare is the motivating force for the restriction.

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Answered on 3/05/08, 5:35 pm


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