ABSTRACT
This chapter considers important changes in the risk of personal liability for educators who violate constitutional rights of students or colleagues. Personal liability of public administrators and educators is affected by the new definition of good faith immunity set forth in Wood v. Strickland. Administrators and faculty relied upon the absolute sovereign immunity of the state as a defense against personal liability in lawsuits such as those alleging unfair school discipline. The due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment forbids arbitrary deprivations by state officials of a student’s constitutional liberty right, that is, the student’s right to his or her good reputation, name, honor, and integrity. Private institutions also may wish to implement due process simply because they view it as essential in any institution training persons to live within our form of government. Legal remedies range from money damages and correcting student or personnel files to fines and imprisonment.
