HEID 7210: Law and Higher Education
In taking this course, taught by Dr. Patrick Pauken, I was able to engage in academic conversations and in-depth study of the legal environment of higher education institutions, legal processes, judicial case analysis, and legal concerns that could occur in university administration. We not only examined constitutions, statutes, administrative regulations, and judicial decisions of federal and state government but covered recent developments in education law. Major topics include liability, academic freedom, tenure, student discipline and due process, student-institution relationship, search and seizure, student organizations and free speech, privacy, religion, disability law, Title IX concerns and trends, harassment, affirmative action, employment and labor law, discrimination, technology, intellectual property, and research. As part of our coursework, I wrote a research paper that was an in-depth study of the dual-sovereignty relationship between institutions of higher education and law enforcement as per statutory law and guidance as well as case law. The latter part of the paper provided optimum practices for search and seizure and conduct sanctions based on my findings. I received full credit and Dr. Pauken wrote that it was "Deep, technical, beautifully organized, thoroughly researched, and both scholarly and practical."
CAHA 590: Gender and Higher Education
I enrolled in this class through Northern Illinois University in Summer 2017. Dr. Z Nicolazzo was the professor and ze lead us through a survey of the current literature regarding gender in higher education from an expansive lense the was more than just 'men' and/or 'women' and centered/focused on the experiences of those with expansive, non-binary gender identities, expressions, and embodiments. We also discuss how policies and practices both inhibit and promote expansive understandings of gender as a social identity.
Part of this focus was review several recent case that challenged "bathroom bills" such as Whitaker v. Kenosha Unified School District Number 1, 858 F.3d 1034 (7th Cir. 2017),
This case is critical to understanding the role that Title IX can play in ensuring rights for trans* students in the United States because it sufficiently demonstrated a likelihood of success on trans* students' Title IX claim under a sex‐stereotyping theory. Although it applies only to the 7th circuit, the perspectives of the court used in deciding this case are important; it will set president for other district courts unless the USA Supreme Court overturns the ruling. This could mean another wave of sweeping changes under a more liberatory and progressive President.
Our culminating project was a digital Critical Policy/Practice Critique. The challenge was to merge our theoretical with necessary practical application. For my project, I critiqued a policy-perspective of Gender-Neutral Housing at the University of Evansville that forecloses possibilities for expansive understandings, performances, or enactments of gender. I was able to collect evidence of how this impacts individuals on campus from personal interviews with gender non-conforming students and propose for transitioning to the policy-perspectives of Gender-Inclusive Housing.