Roger Owen Hooban v. Edward J. Boling

503 F.2d 648, 1974 U.S. App. LEXIS 6658
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedOctober 2, 1974
Docket74-1159
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 503 F.2d 648 (Roger Owen Hooban v. Edward J. Boling) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Roger Owen Hooban v. Edward J. Boling, 503 F.2d 648, 1974 U.S. App. LEXIS 6658 (6th Cir. 1974).

Opinion

PHILLIPS, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff-appellant, Roger Owen Hoo-ban, a law student at the University of Tennessee at the time the suit was filed, brought this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming that his classification by university officials as “out-of-state” for tuition purposes was “arbitrary, unreasonable and invidious” and, thus, a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and, further, that his classification has violated his right to travel. District Judge Robert L. Taylor, after hearing the ease without a jury, dismissed the action in an opinion reported at 371 F. Supp. 1111 (E.D.Tenn.1973). We affirm.

Appellant and his wife moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, from Arizona on September 17, 1971. He enrolled in and commenced attendance at the University of Tennessee School of Law on September 19, 1971. He was classified as an out-of-state student for tuition purposes. In September 1972, Mr. Hooban requested reclassification to in-state status. *650 His request was denied. On September 26, 1972, Mr. Hooban appealed this denial to the University’s Residency Fee Classification Committee and made an oral presentation to that committee. Subsequent review of his out-of-state classification within the administrative structure of the University proved fruitless. In March 1973, the University’s Board of Trustees denied the request for in-state status. On May 22, 1973, Mr. Hooban filed suit against-Dr. Edward J. Boling, President of the University of Tennessee, and Carl Pierce, Assistant Dean of the Law School, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and damages. 1

The issues on appeal are: (1) Whether the University of Tennessee’s regulations for determining residency status for tuition purposes on their face or in their application are violative of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; and (2) did Mr. Hooban’s classification as an out-of-state student serve to penalize him for exercising his right to travel ?

Under the University of Tennessee’s regulations, 2 a full-time student must be domiciled in the State for one year immediately preceding the last date for submitting application for enrollment to qualify as an in-state student for tuition and fee purposes. Regulations, paragraph 3(1), Appendix. Domicile is defined as a person’s “true, fixed and permanent home and place of habitation.” Id. at paragraph 2(3). Moreover, a person is presumed not to have gained instate status if he is a full-time student. Id. at paragraph 4(1). This presumption is not irrebuttable, but may be overcome by clear and convincing evidence. Id. at paragraph 4.

We hold that the one year residency requirement and the rebuttable presumption of out-of-state status do not violate the Equal Protection Clause, nor do they violate appellant’s right to travel. Vlandis v. Kline, 412 U.S. 441, 452 & n. 9, 93 S.Ct. 2230, 37 L.Ed.2d 63 (1973); Hayes v. Board of Regents, 495 F.2d 1326 (6th Cir. 1974); Kelm v. Carlson, 473 F.2d 1267 (6th Cir. 1973); Sturgis v. State of Washington, 368 F.Supp. 38 (W.D.Wash.), aff’d mem., 414 U.S. 1057, 94 S.Ct. 563, 38 L.Ed.2d 464 (1973); Starns v. Malkerson, 326 F.Supp. 234 (D.Minn.1970), aff’d mem., 401 U.S. 985, 91 S.Ct. 1231, 28 L.Ed.2d 527 (1971).

Appellant has also challenged as being violative of the Equal Protection Clause that part of the regulations that permits the unemancipated children of residents who have just moved to Tennessee to be eligible immediately for in-state tuition if their parents establish domicile and are not full-time students. Regulations, paragraph 3(3), Appendix hereto. Furthermore, it is also argued that the policy of allowing new teachers at the University of Tennessee, and their families, the in-state tuition rate is violative of the Equal Protection Clause. Specifically, appellant contends that these classifications are “arbitrary, unreasonable and invidious.”

The test by which these distinctions must be measured is whether they bear a rational relationship to a legitimate state objective. Hayes, supra, 495 F.2d at 1328; Kelm, supra, 473 F.2d at 1271; Sturgis, supra, 368 F.Supp., at 41; Starns, supra, 326 F.Supp. at 239.

In Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. 471, 485, 90 S.Ct. 1153, 1161, 25 L.Ed.2d 491 (1970), a leading case dealing with the application of the Equal Protection Clause to state regulation, the Court stated:

“In the area of economics and social welfare, a State does not violate the *651 Equal Protection Clause merely because the classifications made by its laws are imperfect. If the classification has some ‘reasonable basis,’ it does not offend the Constitution simply because the classification ‘is not made with mathematical nicety or because in practice it results in some inequality.’ Lindsley v. Natural Carbonic Gas Co., 220 U.S. 61, 78 [31 S.Ct. 337, 340, 55 L.Ed. 369]. ‘The problems of government are practical ones and may justify, if they do not require, rough accommodations — illogical, it may be, and unscientific.’ Metropolis Theatre Co. v. City of Chicago, 228 U.S. 61, 69-70 [33 S.Ct. 441, 443, 57 L.Ed. 730]. ‘A statutory discrimination will not be set aside if any state of facts reasonably may be conceived to justify it.’ McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420, 426 [81 S.Ct. 1101, 1105, 6 L.Ed.2d 393].”

A state has a “legitimate interest in protecting and preserving the quality of its colleges and universities and the right of its own bona fide residents to attend such institutions on a preferential tuition basis.” Vlandis, supra, 412 U.S. at 453, 93 S.Ct. at 2237.

We hold that the regulation that allows the unemancipated children of new, non-student residents who have established a domicile within the state to qualify for in-state tuition is reasonable and has a rational basis to a legitimate state objective. A primary justification for a one year waiting period in the case of full-time students is to achieve a partial cost equalization through the payment of the higher out-of-state tuition rate. This justification is present in the case of new, non-student domiciliaries. A non-student resident who is domiciled in the State may be expected to contribute to the economy of the State through employment, taxes and other expenditures. Moreover, it is wholly reasonable to expect a bona fide domiciliary to make intangible contributions to the State.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Niman v. Christian
D. Montana, 2024
Herrera v. Finan
176 F. Supp. 3d 549 (D. South Carolina, 2016)
Curry v. School Dist. of the City of Saginaw
452 F. Supp. 2d 723 (E.D. Michigan, 2006)
Lockett v. University of Kansas
111 P.3d 170 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2005)
Eastman v. The University Of Michigan
30 F.3d 670 (Sixth Circuit, 1994)
Eastman v. University of Michigan
30 F.3d 670 (Sixth Circuit, 1994)
Smith v. Board of Regents of the University of Houston System
874 S.W.2d 706 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1994)
Wolfe v. Rector of the University of Virginia
25 Va. Cir. 223 (Albemarle County Circuit Court, 1991)
Peck v. University Residence Committee
807 P.2d 652 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1991)
Spielberg v. Board of Regents, Univ. of Mich.
601 F. Supp. 994 (E.D. Michigan, 1985)
Brown v. Alexander
718 F.2d 1417 (Sixth Circuit, 1983)
Fagiano v. Police Board of City of Chicago
456 N.E.2d 27 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1983)
Thomas E. Lister v. Thomas H. Hoover
706 F.2d 796 (Seventh Circuit, 1983)
Black v. Sullivan
561 F. Supp. 1050 (D. Maine, 1983)
Lister v. Hoover
655 F.2d 123 (Seventh Circuit, 1981)
Podgor v. Indiana University
381 N.E.2d 1274 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1978)
Moreno v. University of Maryland
420 F. Supp. 541 (D. Maryland, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
503 F.2d 648, 1974 U.S. App. LEXIS 6658, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roger-owen-hooban-v-edward-j-boling-ca6-1974.