DAVIDSON, N.C.,None — Davidson College said it is considering its options after a North Carolina Court of Appeals ruling that said the college's police department legally does not have police powers.
The court made the decision based on prior cases and Davidson's Presbyterian ties.
"Accordingly, we hold that the delegation of police power to Davidson College…is an unconstitutional delegation of ‘an important discretionary governmental power' to a religious institution in the context of the First Amendment," read the opinion concurred by judges Cheri Beasley, Donna Stroud and James Wynn Jr.
The ruling came after college police arrested a woman, who was not a student, off campus four years ago and charged her with DWI. She pleaded guilty and then appealed, saying the police department is unconstitutional because the college, which is a Presbyterian school of 1,800 students, has religious ties.
"What this case says is that you can't delegate a law enforcement function to a religiously-affiliated school," Charlotte defense attorney James Wyatt said. According to him, that means no arrests and no search and seizures.
The college said it's evaluating the ruling and working with the attorney general's office to review its options.
"We are analyzing the Court's opinion to determine its full implications," Stacey Schmeidel, Davidson College's Vice President for College Communications, said in a statement. "We will be talking with the Attorney General's Office regarding the potential review of this decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court, as the Court of Appeals seems to urge in its ruling."
Schmeidel also said the school's police department is not doing anything differently than it did before the ruling, adding that the state's Criminal Justice Standards Division notified the college Wednesday morning that "there has been no change in the status of our campus police officers." Wyatt said he disagrees.
"If the college does not change its practices right now, then everyone who is arrested on their campus by campus security officers can raise the same challenge," he said.
The issue has incoming students talking.
"While that is kind of a strange thing to hear, I don't really understand the full implications of it," freshman Edward McDonald said.
"I believe the campus police department should the authority to arrest and detain," freshman Chance Ruder said, adding that he thinks it would be important to campus safety.
Wyatt said it's unclear which other schools might be impacted by the ruling.
"It's the extent of that affiliation that will determine if other schools are going to be bound by this ruling," he said.
The unanimous ruling means there's no automatic appeal to the state Supreme Court. If an appeal is sought, judges Donna Stroud and Cheri Beasley urged the Supreme Court to consider the case to clarify whether a college or university with a religious affiliation should be allowed to receive the delegated authority if it doesn't seek to impose beliefs or indoctrinate students.
The opinion pointed out Davidson is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), requires more than half of the trustees to be active members in the denomination and that the life of the president provide "evidence of strong Christian faith and commitment."
The school's statement of purpose says in part: "The Christian tradition to which Davidson remains committed recognizes God as the source of all truth, and believes that Jesus Christ is the revelation of that God, a God bound by no church or creed."
WSOC
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
