The Law of Higher Education : A Comprehensive Guide to Legal Implications of Administrative Decision Making

Rating:
Summary: A Must-Have for University Administrators
Review: Kaplin & Lee's "The Law of Higher Education (Third Edition)" was the required text for a graduate course, "Legal Aspects of Higher Education" and should be present on the bookshelf of any university administrator. The book's subtitle, "A Comprehensive Gudie to Legal Implications of Administrative Decision Making," is wholly accurate in describing the scope and utility of this massive tome (over 1,000 pages from cover to cover).

The book is a valuable investment on a number of fronts, not the least of which is the paucity of comparable texts on this complex topic. "The Law of Higher Education" begins with an overview of postsecondary education law and continues with an interesting organization that considers the college and its various constituencies -- "The College and Trustees, Administrators, and Staff," "The College and the Faculty," "The College and the Students," "The College and the Community," "The College and the State Government," "The College and the Federal Government," "The College and the Educational Associations," and "The College and the Business/Industrial Community." Each chapter is further broken down into key arenas (for example, in the chapter on students, a few of the topics include admissions, financial aid, disciplinary rules and regulations, and athletics). Each topic includes a context and is connected to numerous examples from case law. Despite the high degree of legal terminology, the book is readable for the layperson. There are separate indices for subject, statute, and cases that make it easy to locate relevant information.

This book is an excellent treatment of the enormously complex field of high education law.