The fact is that faculty advisors to student organizations can be held responsible for their acts of commission and omission. Three cases and the respective points of law contained therein serve as important reminders of our responsibilities.

In Blank v. Board of Higher Education (1966), an academic advising case, a student relied on information given to him about his academic program and degree requirements. The student acted in good faith on this advice and, after completing the program, applied for graduation. The dean of the college argued that the student had not met the residency requirement found in the college handbook and denied his diploma. The student sued. Upon review, the court disagreed with the dean and found in favor of the student writing that the verbal advice given by his faculty advisors constituted a contract regardless of the written policy. The lesson learned here is that acts of commission by faculty advisors can obligate the institution to the advice they give even when that advice is incorrect.

In a case involving negligence, a student was injured in curriculum-related activity where faculty advisors failed to provide appropriate supervision. In this case, the faculty advisor was supposed to attend as many meetings and rehearsals as possible but did not attend the rehearsal where the student was injured. Because the faculty advisor was exercising professional or occupational discretion, the court ruled that the faculty advisor could be held liable for negligent supervision (Texas A&M University v. Bishop, 105 S.W. 3d 646, 2003).

Finally in a hazing incident, a court of appeals court remanded the case for trial because the faculty advisor was not activity engaged in preventing an event where a pledge was severely beaten and where the facts of the case demonstrated that the faculty advisor failed to follow the written policies of the national organization (Kenner v. Kappa Alpha Psi, 808 A.2d 178, 2002). In these latter two cases, faculty failed to exercise their responsibilities as advisors properly and may be held responsible for the injuries that occurred because of their inaction.

During our careers, many of us are asked by students and our supervisors to serve as advisors to student organizations. Usually such an invitation stems from a close personal relationship with the club's president, a personal interest or expertise in the club's activities, or a close nexus between the mission of the student organization and our job responsibilities as administrators or faculty. In most cases, we are pleased to accept such assignments and never give a second thought to doing so. Accepting such an assignment gives us just one more opportunity to serve our institution and to help students develop into well-rounded adults, leaders, or young professionals. The rewards for good advising extend to the institution, the organization, the students, and to the advisors themselves (Dunkel & Schuh, 1998). Advising a student organization allows us to act upon our traditional advising roles of educator, counselor, mentor, role model, programmer, leader, communicator, ambassador, supervisor, accountant, and manager (Riordan, 2003) but this responsibility cannot be taken lightly.

The following recommendations will help ensure that your advising experience is a positive and rewarding one.

 

1. Formalize your advising relationship with your institution. In an earlier time, many attorneys and college administrators thought it best to keep student organizations, their officers, and their members at some distance from the institution. By not providing close advising, oversight, and supervision, these professionals sought to minimize the relationship between the institution and the student organization and thus reduce the institution's liability for the actions of these organizations. Bickel and Lake (1999) suggest that trying to create this sense of distance serves no one's best interest and may be increasingly rejected by the courts. They argue that student organizations would simply not exist if not for the institution and further, if these activities are an important part of the extracurricular, we do ourselves and our students a disservice if we abrogate our responsibility to positively influence these activities. Administrators and faculty who accept the opportunity to serve as advisers for student organizations should do so with organizations that are registered or recognized by the institution. In addition, persons who serve as advisers should do so as part of their formal job descriptions. Such an arrangement ensures that the group and the adviser will have access to all of the services offered by the institution. Most importantly, if something does go wrong, the adviser, acting in good faith within the scope of his or her responsibilities, should be protected as an agent of the institution and not left on his or her own.

    

2. Determine the scope of your advising responsibilities. The scope of your advising responsibilities will be determined in large measure by the type of organization you advise, the expectations of the organization's members, and the expectations of your institution. If you serve as an adviser to an honorary society that meets only to select and induct new members, your responsibilities may be minimal. Your role may be mostly ceremonial and you may only be asked to serve as a contact person for the group's national headquarters. If, on the other hand, you are the adviser to the karate club, you may be expected to instruct students in this martial art, and monitor and certify the progress of your club's members. Depending on the culture of the organization and the institution, your presence may or may not be expected at all club activities.

    

3. Educate yourself about institutional policies and procedures, and state and federal statutes that may apply to those activities. As an adviser, you serve as an agent of your institution and thus, may obligate the institution to the advice you give your group's officers and members. Similarly, you do not want to jeopardize the good standing of your organization or its members by inadvertently advising them to violate the institution's rules and regulations.

    

4. Assess the inherent risks of the organization's activities. Members of a student organization who meet once a month and plan one or two non-alcoholic restricted social activities each semester do not create much risk for members, the organization or the institution. On the other hand, if the group sponsors large public events or has a history of mismanaging their events, the risks increase.

    

5. Learn how to manage those risks for the good of your institution and student organization. As an advisor, you should help your club's officers make prudent decisions about the activities in which they engage. Even risky activities can be managed and liability can be reduced, shifted, or insured against when proper planning is done. Dunkel and Schuh (1998) offer a good introduction to these topics. If you do not have the skills to help the members of your group make such decisions, you should seek the assistance of those administrators on your campus who do.

References

Blank v, Board of Higher Education of the City of New York, 273 N.Y.S. 2d. 796 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1966).

Bickel, R. D., & Lake, P. F. (1999). The rights and responsibilities of the modern university. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.

Dunkel, N. W., & Shuh, J. H. (1998). Advising student groups and organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Kenner v. Kappa Alpha Psi, 808 A.2d 178, 2002.

Riordan, B. G. (2003). The fraternity advisor: Roles, responsibilities, and resources. In D.E. Gregory and Associates. The administration of fraternal organizations on North American campuses: A pattern for the new millennium (pp. 319 - 347).

Texas A&M University v. Bishop, 105 S.W. 3d 646, 2003.

Steven M. Janosik is an associate professor in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Copyright 2003-2004 National Association of Student Personnel Adminstrators.  Reprinted with permission from NASPA's NetResults.