That students at public institutions of higher education cannot be disciplined without due process, including notice of their alleged violations and an opportunity to be heard.
Dixon v. Alabama, 294 F.2d 150 (5th Cir. 1961) was a landmark 1961 U.S. federal court decision that spelled the end of the doctrine that colleges and universities could act in loco parentis to discipline or expel their students.[1] It has been called "the leading case on due process for students in public higher education".[2]
The case arose when Alabama State College, a then-segregated black college, expelled six students, including the named appellant, St. John Dixon, for unspecified reasons, but presumably because of their participation in demonstrations during the Civil Rights Movement. The college, acting in loco parentis, expelled them without a hearing. The case was appealed to the Fifth Circuit, which held that a public college could not expel students without at least minimal due process.[1]
