Growth in Litigation Involving Colleges Has Slowed, Study Finds

The common wisdom that colleges face a steadily rising number of lawsuits appears incorrect, according to an analysis published last month in the Education Law Reporter. The authors of the study — Lelia B. Helms, a professor of educational policy and leadership studies at the University of Iowa, and James D. Jorgensen, a lawyer for the university — conducted their analysis by comparing the court decisions reported in the Education Law Reporter in 2007 with those reported in that journal and others in past decades. While acknowledging limits in their methodology, they say their analysis shows that the growth of litigation involving colleges clearly has slowed in recent years. Their study also found that faculty members account for a declining share of those filing lawsuits involving colleges, a development that, they say, may reflect broader changes in the composition of the higher-education work force.