<p>The college my daughter's female friend ("Sue") attends is very small. There is only one residence hall building on campus, it is a 2-yr school, does not offer a meal plan. The "Dean" (not official title) serves as the Office of Student Affairs, the legal rep, the President - everything and so makes all decisions. On the expulsion notice, she (the "Dean") has written that she will not accept any phone calls from parents, attorneys, or friends regarding this matter. Basically, she is not planning to defend her decision. </p>
<p>Sue has been expelled mid-semester (now) for activities that the Dean has decided constitutes "bullying." This means that she will need to pay at least $10,000 in tuition, fees & residence costs since her financial aid will not pay for the unfinished semester. She will be unable to pay these costs and cannot attend another college as long as her debt to this college remains unpaid. Her family qualifies for the Earned Income Credit and has a disabled son. I have helped them (done the work) with citizenship, taxes, FAFSA etc., so this is why I know about their circumstances. The friend has written a letter so I could act on her behalf at the college since her parents do not articulate English well. The friend is one of a few Latinos that attend this college but the only one who lives on campus. Most of the staff at the college are white. Most of the resident students are African-American however there are also a few white students. Sue was placed with African-American roommates and she is very happy with her suite mates. During the previous semester, there was an incident with a white student when Sue and her suite mate visited a friend who was also white. The white student refused them access to the dorm suite and tried to close the door in their faces since the student they went to visit was in the shower at the time. Sue's suite mate blocked the door from closing completely with her foot to ask why the white student would not allow them access to wait inside for their showering friend, but ultimately had to withdraw her foot. Rather than leaving, Sue and her suite mate remained and knocked on the door again. This time another white suite mate opened the door and invited them in stating that they should ignore the suite mate that first answered the door since she was always in a bad mood. Sue confronted the bad mood student (who was standing there) and complained about her attitude and accused her of being racist. The bad mood student slammed her fists down on the counter several times and Sue told her she better watch her temper or it could cause her problems. (This was considered a "threat"). The bad mood student called the RA and a complaint was filed. Sue was "convicted" by the "Dean" of unauthorized entry to the dorm room and threatening another resident. Sue's suite mate was convicted of unauthorized entry. The Dean's rationale was that if Sue and her suite mate had left when the 1st resident denied access, the altercation between Sue and the white student would not have occurred. I fail to understand such reasoning since there is no mention of or focus on the ill behavior of the white student (slamming of fists and entry door) and why she refused access. There was misinformation in the written narrative of the decision document that indicated that the door had not been closed fully due to the foot blocking closure, however, this makes no sense since Sue and her suite mate could have just entered instead of knocking and the door being opened by the 2nd suite mate. I believe that this was a biased call and that unauthorized access did not occur since the door was closed and then reopened by someone who did authorize access. Anyway, this incident was called a "sanction" but nobody knows what that means. I assume it translates into probation. </p>
<p>Sue and her roommate have been expelled due to alleged prank cell phone calls made to another Latino student (Katy) whom Sue had befriended. Sue was the only person among the group accused of this offense who had Katy's phone number in her cell phone contact list. However, the white friend who was in the shower from the previous incident (Lucy) had begun to "live" in Sue's suite. Lucy cooked, showered, and hung out there everyday and night. Lucy is a troubled young woman and I had cautioned Sue to avoid Lucy based on what I had been told. According to Sue, in order to get rid of Lucy and have her go to the common area of the suite and leave Sue and her suite mate alone in their private rooms to study, they would allow her use of their cell phones. Lucy claimed that her cell phone battery was dead or the phone was left behind in her own dorm room. Someone called Katy numerous times claiming to be a man who was interested in her romantically. The cell phone number from both cells phones was not blocked and is on caller-ID. Also, a letter was composed that is sexual in nature describing this imaginary man's appetite for Katy. The letter was handed to Katy in the library by Lucy. Katy filed a complaint and it was discovered that the cell phones numbers belonged to Sue and her suite mate. When interviewed, Lucy claimed that she was not involved except as a puppet and she admitted that she had been the supposed male voice during some of the calls. Lucy claimed that Sue and her suite mate had devised a plan to harass Katy. When interviewed, Sue and her suite mate denied involvement, however, they were not believed. Sue's defense was that she was savvy enough to have blocked her number if she was going to be making a prank call. The narrative of the letter, while crass, was not Sue's work since English is a 2nd language for her (and her suite mate) and I have helped Sue in high school with research papers. The language of the letter was too well constructed and must have been the work of someone where English is their 1st language. It makes no sense that Sue would torment a fellow Latino student particularly since there are so few on campus. Given that I know Sue would block her number (I know this because she used to call her ex-boyfriend and say nothing when he answered but would block her number when calling), and the structure of the language in the letter, it is my belief that Lucy spent her time in the common area using the cell phones of her "friends" to prank Katy and composed the letter and gave it to Katy. Lucy is troubled, so she may have thought it was fun and harmless. Yet the Dean decided to given Lucy probation while expelling Sue and her suite mate. This is twice that the white Dean decided in favor of the white students while penalizing the students of color. (I am white). </p>
<p>My question is has anyone heard of a student being expelled for prank calls? What recourse does Sue have legally? I am prepared to engage an attorney since I think this situation stinks and is wholly unfair particularly since this college has no student advocates. Advice?</p>