The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 3 - 68

Richard Fossey

marijuana in Devers's dormitory room. The
university justified its search through language in its student housing policy, which
stated "[t]he university reserves all rights in
connection with assignments of rooms, inspection of rooms with police, and termination of room occupancy."
Devers sued, arguing the university's
housing policy was unconstitutional on its
face, and a trial court agreed. On appeal, the
university argued it had an interest in keeping
drugs and weapons out of its dormitories that
justified its search policy, citing State v. Hunter
(1992) to support its position.
A Louisiana appellate court rejected the
university's argument and ruled its broad
housing policy was unconstitutional. The
Louisiana court distinguished the case before
it from State v. Hunter, pointing out that Utah
State University's housing policy authorized
authorities to inspect dormitory rooms for
health and safety reasons and to maintain
discipline. Southern University's policy was
much broader and allowed university officials
and police officers to search students' dormitory rooms for any reason.

Officials' Motivation for Searching
a Dorm Room May Determine the
Search's Constitutionality
A critical question in many of the dormitorysearch cases concerns the motivation of university officials when they conduct a search.
Did they enter the dormitory room pursuant
to the institution's legitimate interest in maintaining health and safety or the institution's
educational atmosphere, or were they aiding
the police in a criminal investigation?

A critical question in many
of the dormitory-search cases
concerns the motivation of
university officials when they
conduct a search. Did they enter
the dormitory room pursuant
to the institution's legitimate interest
in maintaining health and safety
or the institution's educational
atmosphere, or were they aiding the
police in a criminal investigation?

This distinction is clearly illustrated in
State v. Kappes (1976), one of the few dormitory-search cases involving a female student. In
that case, two student resident advisors used a
master key to conduct a routine inspection of a
dormitory room occupied by Gretchen Kappes,
a freshman at Northern Arizona University.
They discovered a pipe and two marijuana
butts in plain sight on a desk in the room. One
of the student resident advisors called her supervisor, and the supervisor called the campus
security office.
Three law enforcement officers arrived,
but two left to get an administrative search authorization from the dean of students. Before
the authorization was obtained, Kappes returned to her room, where an officer advised
her of her Miranda rights and put her under
arrest. Kappes became upset, pulled a bag of

T h e J o u r n a l o f C o l l e g e a n d U n i v e r s i t y St u d e n t H o u s i n g

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 3