A group of Durham lawyers will likely challenge Duke University Police Department’s authority to make arrests following a recent ruling in a case involving Davidson College.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 17 that the college cannot make arrests due to its strong religious affiliation to the Presbyterian Church. The court tossed out charges against Julie Yencer, who was arrested by a campus police officer driving while impaired, after the defendant appealed on the ground that the the arrest violated the separation of church and state.
A group of Durham lawyers will likely challenge Duke University Police Department’s authority to make arrests following a recent ruling in a case involving Davidson College.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 17 that the college cannot make arrests due to its strong religious affiliation to the Presbyterian Church. The court tossed out charges against Julie Yencer, who was arrested by a campus police officer driving while impaired, after the defendant appealed on the ground that the the arrest violated the separation of church and state.
Whether the challenge of Duke’s power will be successful remains unclear. Duke has long-standing ties to the Methodist Church—ties that could limit the police force’s authority to make arrests. For example, of the 36 elected members of the Board of Trustees, 24 are elected by the United Methodist Church and the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, according to the University’s bylaws.
“The aims of Duke University... are to assert a faith in the eternal union of knowledge and religion set forth in the teachings and character of Jesus Christ,” the bylaws state, though—despite the historical and formal times—the University is independent and non-sectarian.
Durham-based attorney Bill Thomas, one of the lawyers set to challenge DUPD’s authority, however, noted that Duke is susceptible to a constitutional challenge due to its “adherence to the Christian tradition and [promote] Christianity,” according to The Herald Sun. Thomas could not immediately be reached for comment.
DUPD Chief John Dailey referred all comment to Michael Schoenfeld, vice president of public affairs and government relations. Schoenfeld said the ruling by the N.C. Court of Appeals concerned Davidson in particular and cannot necessarily be applied universally.
“It was a specific case regarding Davidson College Police Department,” Schoenfeld said. “We’re studying the ruling and what the potential impact on Duke may be.” For now, it’s “business as usual,” he added.
Davidson is not the only institution in the state to have its police authority challenged. The police departments at Campbell University and Pfeiffer University were deprived of their legal authority due to court rulings in 1994 and 2002, respectively. Both have resorted to directly hiring officers from their communities’ police departments.
“The safety of the campus is maintained well by our relationship with the sheriff’s county office,” said Haven Hottel, director for communications and publications at Campbell. “We do have officers that are employed by the university but they do not have arrest possibility; they maintain parking and traffic.”
Campbell currently pays the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office over $400,000 annually to assist in securing the campus, The Herald-Sun reported. Hottel was unable to comment on how much the university spent on its police force prior to the ruling and thus was unable to determine whether tapping local officers is more expensive than maintaining a private force.
On Aug. 19, the Attorney General’s office said it planned to ask the N.C. Supreme Court to agree to seek review of the case, according to a Davidson release.
“We have been advised that there can and should be no immediate change in the way that our police department operates,” said Stacey Schmeidel, associate vice president for college communications at Davidson.
This article has been corrected to reflect that there are 37 members of the Board of Trustees including the University's president.
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