Photo courtesy of unsplash.com Students’ rights are a complex, contentious and highly relevant issue. However, despite the fact that these rights are vitally important to college students and the ways they may conduct their lives, many are unaware of how their attendance at a university may impact their freedoms and protections. Starting in elementary school and continuing through high school, young students may not experience the same rights and privileges afforded to adults. Because of their youth, schools may, for example, share pertinent information with students’ parents without student permission. However, many common high school experiences like this one disappear once an individual reaches college and is granted more freedom and independence. As is the case throughout elementary and secondary education, a great deal of students’ rights issues depend upon the status of an institution — i.e., whether it is a public or private college or university. When selecting an institution for higher education, most students do not consider this factor, but it nevertheless has a great impact upon students’ rights and lives. Talking about “rights” in the United States is usually a conversation of constitutional rights, such as freedom of speech, religion and expression and privacy rights. These […]
