Shannon Waller, Jr. v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia

Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit·Decided August 10, 2026·No. 24-13307·Published

Opinion

FOR PUBLICATION

In the

United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

No. 24-13307

SHANNON WALLER, JR., Plaintiff-Appellant,

versus

BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OF GEORGIA, TERRI MILLER, JASMINE BROWN, SHANOYA CORDEW, MARINA SPEARS, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia D.C. Docket No. 5:23-cv-00232-MTT

Before JORDAN, JILL PRYOR, and KIDD, Circuit Judges.

2 Opinion of the Court 24-13307

JORDAN, Circuit Judge:

Shannon Waller, Jr., was a respiratory therapy student at Middle Georgia State University, an institution in the University System of Georgia. Following an incident at his clinical externship, an MGS disciplinary panel found Mr. Waller responsible for endangering the health or safety of a patient. As punishment, the panel gave him an “F” in his clinical externship class.

Mr. Waller then brought a complaint against the Board of Regents and some of its employees for breach of contract and disability discrimination, among other things. The district court dismissed the contract claim on state sovereign immunity grounds. And it dismissed the discrimination claims for failure to state a claim. After review, and with the benefit of oral argument, we affirm.

I

We take as true the following allegations, which are pled in Mr. Waller’s operative complaint or contained in its attached exhibits . See Daniels v. Select Portfolio Servicing, Inc., 34 F.4th 1260, 1263–64 (11th Cir. 2022) (citing Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rts., Ltd., 551 U.S. 308, 322 (2007)).

A

On June 8, 2020, MGS sent Mr. Waller a letter tentatively accepting him into its Respiratory Therapy Entry-Level Degree Program. It read in relevant part:

24-13307 Opinion of the Court 3

Dear Shannon Waller, Congratulations! You have been tentatively accepted into the Fall 2020 Bachelor of Science in Respiratory Therapy Entry-Level Degree Program at Middle Georgia State University. This acceptance is conditional upon your successfully completing the prerequisites as outlined in the Middle Georgia State academic catalog and as advised. . . . You will also need to contact the Office of Admissions 30 days prior to the first day of class to ensure that all admission requirements have been met. . . . An orientation to the program will be held on August 12 & 13 from 8:00am until 5:00pm. Your attendance for the entire orientation period is required to move forward within the program. . . . I have attached some important information regarding our program which you will want to review and act upon as needed. Your signature on this acceptance letter will serve as acceptance of the content within that document . . . . Please return a signed copy of this letter by scanning and emailing it . . . before June 15, 2020, as your commitment to begin Fall Semester 2020. . . .

The letter was signed by Teresa J. Miller, the Chair of the Respiratory Therapy Program. The same day, Mr. Waller signed and returned the letter. 1

1 The operative complaint does not identify what document was attached to

the admission letter. Nor does it set out what that document says.

4 Opinion of the Court 24-13307

MGS then provided Mr. Waller with a copy of the Respiratory Therapy Student Handbook. The Handbook states that “you [the student] are responsible for reading, understanding, and abiding by the . . . Student Code of Conduct.” The Code of Conduct lays out specific procedures and student rights in disciplinary and enforcement proceedings. The Handbook also states: “If a student ’s behavior becomes a problem in the classroom setting, the procedures for disciplinary action listed in the Middle Georgia State University Handbook will be followed.”

The Handbook is not signed by an employee of MGS. On August 16, 2020, Mr. Waller signed the following verification of receipt : “I hereby certify that I have received a copy of the Middle Georgia State University Respiratory Therapy Handbook, have read and understand the material and will adhere to the policies.”

Christopher Blake, the President of MGS, signed the Constitution of the Student Government Association. The Constitution provides that “[e]ach member shall . . . uphold . . . the Middle Georgia State University Student Handbook and Code of Conduct.”

B

To graduate from MGS with a degree in respiratory therapy, Mr. Waller had to pass RESP 4125—a class where students participate in a clinical externship. Once enrolled in RESP 4125, he was placed at Houston Healthcare in Warner Robins, Georgia, to complete the clinical component of the class.

Mr. Waller suffers from attention deficit disorder, anxiety, and depression. Ms. Miller and Jasmine Brown, the professor of

24-13307 Opinion of the Court 5

the RESP 4125 class, were aware of Mr. Waller’s conditions. They also knew that Mr. Waller sees a counselor and takes medication for his conditions.

After Mr. Waller began his externship, one of his clinical instructors told Ms. Miller and Ms. Brown that he “display[ed] a sort of nervous anxiety” and made “some inappropriate statements during his clinical rotations that is making the staff uncomfortable.” Similarly, three Houston Healthcare employees believed that Mr. Waller’s performance was unsatisfactory due to behavior related to his mental health conditions. They too communicated their opinions of Mr. Waller to Ms. Miller, Ms. Brown, and others.

Following those comments, Ms. Miller and Ms. Brown had discussions with Dr. Michael Stewart, the Associate Vice-President for Student Affairs, and Dr. Tara Underwood, the Dean of Health and Natural Sciences, regarding Mr. Waller’s conditions and behavior . Dr. Stewart required Mr. Waller to provide documentation from a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist certifying that he was not a danger to himself or others and that he was able to withstand the stress of the clinical setting, including the care of neonatal, pediatric , and adult critical care patients. Mr. Waller complied with Dr. Stewart’s request.

On April 21, 2022, a patient at Houston Healthcare with a tracheostomy twice went into cardiac arrest. Mr. Waller says that he “blew the whistle” regarding the facility’s failure to use the appropriately sized cannula—a type of tube—and that the heart attacks were caused in part by the wrong-sized cannula. Following

6 Opinion of the Court 24-13307

this incident, Ms. Miller suspended Mr. Waller indefinitely from his clinical rotation, and Houston Healthcare barred him from its facilities .

Shanoya Cordew, MGS’ Student Conduct Coordinator, sent Mr. Waller a letter charging him with violations of the Student Code of Conduct arising from the incident. According to the letter, Mr. Waller allegedly made changes to ventilators without notifying a therapist, placed a patient on “BiPAP” without supervision, “[p]erform[ed] an ABG [an arterial blood gas test] backwards” after being told not to perform the test in that manner, and engaged in other misconduct. The letter stated that the proposed sanctions for these violations were a grade of “F” in RESP 4125 and dismissal from the Respiratory Therapy Program. The letter also informed Mr. Waller of some of his rights under MGS’ policies, including the right to a hearing and to call witnesses.

MGS convened a hearing, at which Ms. Miller and Ms.

Brown served as the complainants. After hearing the evidence, a three-person panel unanimously found that Mr. Waller was responsible for “[a]ctions and/or behaviors that endanger health/safety.” The panel decided that, as punishment, Mr. Waller should receive a grade of “F” in RESP 4125.

Mr. Waller contends that this hearing did not conform to the standards set forth in the Student Code of Conduct and other written policies of MGS. For example, Mr. Waller alleges that before the hearing he “attempted to obtain a complete collection of the evidence against him, lists of witnesses, investigative reports,

24-13307 Opinion of the Court 7

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