AUSTIN, Texas — A new ruling by the Texas Supreme Court states that both the University of Texas at Austin and Texas State University (TXST) can revoke former students' degrees due to academic misconduct.
In a new report from KVUE's media partners at the Austin American-Statesman, the two universities argued for the right to revoke awarded doctorate degrees from students that engaged in academic misconduct. The schools stated that it would be to not only protect their reputations but to maintain the value of the degrees.
When the case was brought forward to the court, it was found that the universities can revoke a degree as long as students are provided due process by the universities – and if the conduct by the student justifies being revoked.
An important point of the case is that the revocation can occur regardless of if they are a current student or if they have already graduated, and there is no time limit as to when the investigation and subsequent revoking can occur.
According to the report, the cases involve two separate students who were accused of academic misconduct and sued the universities to prevent the revoking their degrees. One of the cases, brought by former graduate student at TXST known as "K.E.," stated that TXST attempted to revoke her doctoral degree in biology after an investigation uncovered falsified and fabricated data in her dissertation in 2011.
The other case, brought by Suvi Orr, a UT student, stated that the suit began after UT began to revoke her doctoral degree in chemistry in 2008. This came after allegations of academic misconduct surfaced four years after Orr had graduated. The university committee found that Orr had engaged in scientific misconduct, and Orr claims that she made a mistake and had misread data.
The court's ruling has now reversed the decisions of both of the trial court and the Third District Court of Appeals – both had ruled against the universities. The appeals court found that state law grants universities the power to award degrees to students but does not specify if they can revoke them, according to the report.
In the ruling, Judge Debra Lehrmann stated that universities can revoke degrees under state law and that the statues governing boards at UT and TXST allow them the authority to create policies for academic misconduct, which include expelling current students engaging in misconduct.
One justice, Justice Jimmy Blacklock, stated that universities do not have the right to revoke students' degrees after earning them. In the report, he had stated that the power to decided whether a degree should be revoked belongs in the courts and not by the universities.
Read the full report from the Austin American-Statesman.