August 2010: Dean of Students hosts webinar about the U.S. Supreme Court 'Hastings' case

Tuesday, Aug. 10, 9-10:30 a.m.
Lyla Richards Conference Room

The Dean of Students Office invites interested parties to view a webinar that examines the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (Hastings) involving the new legal landscape for registered student organizations and fraternal organizations. This webinar is presented by The Center for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy, Stetson University College of Law.

The Hastings case may be the most important pronouncement from the nation's highest court in 30 years regarding the rights and responsibilities of universities and Registered Student Organizations (RSO). As Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) prepare for the 2010-2011 academic year, the Center for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy is proud to sponsor this webinar featuring one of higher education's elite lawyers and most prolific authors, Timothy Burke, of the law firm Manley Burke. Burke has spent much of his career working for and writing about RSO'S and fraternal organizations. For many, he is the voice of fraternal law and policy.

This webinar is critical for fraternal organizations, RSOs, and colleges and universities seeking to establish or update their policies on student organizations. As IHEs prepare for in-service training, webinar participants will be guided through this session to gain a better understanding of the critical issues in the Hastings case.

Here are some of the issues Burke will address:

• What policies may an IHE have regulating membership in RSOs? Which policies are dubious, even potentially unconstitutional?
• What is the impact of the Hastings case on private colleges?
• How does the Hastings case fit with other key cases from the Supreme Court like Board of Regents v. Southworth (student activity fees) or Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia et al (gender discrimination)?
• How will the Hastings case impact the operation of fraternal organizations?
• What future litigation will likely occur in the wake of the Hastings case?
• Will the Hastings case drive some RSOs out of the RSO system entirely? If so, what are the implications for IHE's?

Burke maintains an extensive national practice representing fraternities and sororities. He serves as counsel to the National Panhellenic Conference, Pi Beta Phi, Chi Omega, Delta Gamma, Alpha Phi, Phi Delta Theta and Beta Theta Pi, and is often called on by other groups as well. He frequently speaks at national, regional and campus fraternity and sorority events and has contributed extensively to Fraternal Law, a national newsletter published four times an academic year since 1982. He is currently a member of the Ohio Board of Regents and in the past was the president of the Xavier University Alumni Board of Governors, a faculty member at both Xavier and the University of Cincinnati and served as special counsel to the attorney general of Ohio representing both the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati State Technical and Community College on assigned matters.