Dixon v. Alabama Board of Education

In honor of Black History Month, the Office of Student Conduct encourages our Wolfpack community to learn more about Dixon v. Alabama Board of Education, a 1961 landmark court case that is cited as the foundation for modern due process rights for students at colleges and universities.

“The case arose after Alabama State College (now Alabama State University) expelled six black students who had participated in civil-rights demonstrations. In a letter to the students, the college’s president wrote that Alabama State had the power to remove them for various offenses, such as ‘Conduct Prejudicial to the School’ or ‘Insubordination and Insurrection.’…The appellate court deemed such rules unconstitutional. A public college, it said, could not remove students without at least minimal due process, such as a hearing they could attend” (Hoover, 2008, para. 17-18).

“Student Sit-in Organizers Expelled” – Voices of the Civil Rights Movement (Feb 25, 2017)

The Dixon case was crucial for the establishment of rights afforded to students and the shaping of an institution’s disciplinary process. The Office of Student Conduct recognizes the sacrifices and activism of the many Black students who helped establish the foundations of due process as we see it today. We strive to implement and uphold these standards through our educational process, as outlined in the Rights and Responsibilities afforded to students in the Student Discipline Procedures (section 3).

For more information and upcoming events at NC State during Black History Month, click here.

References

Hoover, Eric (2008-09-05), “‘Animal House’ at 30: O Bluto, Where Art Thou?”, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 55(2), pp. 1, 34–35