Texas Supreme Court Says Universities Can Revoke Degrees
Ruling: Texas universities can revoke the degrees of their graduates on findings they committed academic misconduct.
- Note: The Texas Supreme Court (TSC) 6-2 majority ruling was delivered (March 31) and resulted from the joint consideration of a lawsuit that plaintiff “S.O.” filed against UT Austin and a separate lawsuit that plaintiff “K.E.” filed against Texas State University. Click here for the majority opinion and here for the concurring opinion — and here for the dissenting opinion.
Background
S.O. and K.E. had both received doctoral degrees from their respective universities — and sued them — when their former universities attempted to revoke their degrees after their advisors reported that the graduates had earned their doctorates through fraud relating to the underlying research supporting their doctoral dissertations.
The dispute reached the TSC after a state appeals court in Austin separately ruled against the two universities, rulings that the TSC majority overturned.
The majority opinion concludes that Texas universities can revoke the degrees of their former students for misconduct if — as what happened in these two disputes — the misconduct occurred before the student was awarded a degree. (The alleged fradulent research was not discovered until after the students were awarded their degrees.)
The majority opinion concludes that the two public universities, as governmental entities, thus have sovereign immunity legal protections over being sued over the ex-students’ claims.
Universities can’t move against former students for academic misconduct that occurred after they obtained their degrees, the majority ruling added.
The dissenting opinion contended that there is no Texas law that allows universities to revoke a student’s degree once the degree has been granted and the student has graduated. The Legislature would have to enact such a law to allow universities to revoke degrees after the degree was conferred, the dissenting opinion argues.
Subject to likely motions for reconsideration by attorneys for the two former students, the TSC ruling is final in regards to S.O.’s lawsuit against UT Austin. The justices sent K.O.’s lawsuit against TSU back to the original trial judge for resolution of a question of whether the university afforded K.O. her due process rights before moving to revoke her doctorate.
