{"id":368944,"date":"2023-02-06T17:46:54","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T22:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-law\/litigation\/filing-a-lawsuit\/can-i-sue-the-national-honor-society.html"},"modified":"2023-02-06T18:02:13","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T23:02:13","slug":"can-i-sue-the-national-honor-society","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/litigation\/filing-a-lawsuit\/can-i-sue-the-national-honor-society.html","title":{"rendered":"Can I Sue the National Honor Society?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Can I Sue the National Honor Society?<\/h1>\n
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\n By Robert Rafii, Esq.<\/a> | Legally reviewed by Steven Ellison, Esq.<\/a>\n | Last updated\n
\n \n <\/i>\n Legally Reviewed\n <\/summary>\n\n
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This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy, clarity, and style by FindLaw\u2019s team of legal writers and attorneys<\/a> and in accordance with our editorial standards<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n\n

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The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our contributing authors<\/a>. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please contact an attorney in your area<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n<\/section>\n

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You can sue the National Honor Society (NHS) or a local school chapter if you believe you were unfairly denied membership due to discrimination or a violation of your rights. Legal grounds may include First Amendment violations, Title IX sex discrimination, or breaches of due process and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

The National Honor Society (NHS) is an educational organization with local chapters across the United States that recognizes exceptional high school students who demonstrate skill in scholarship, leadership<\/a>, service hours, and character. Founded more than 100 years ago, the NHS promotes community service to its more than one million student participants.<\/p>\n

If you or your child has been unfairly denied membership in the NHS, you may be able to sue. Your lawsuit may be directly against the NHS or against the local school faculty council that determines your NHS admission. A civil rights attorney<\/a> can advise you on your rights and provide you with options moving forward.<\/p>\n

Suing on First Amendment Grounds<\/h2>\n

Let’s say your child worked hard throughout elementary school and middle school. They always participate in community service projects, extracurricular school activities, and athletics. You’ve been passionate about honor society membership, and you’ve seen inductees across their school district make it through the selection process to get their NHS membership.<\/p>\n

Your child is a high school junior with an excellent grade point average (GPA). They are encouraged by school officials, faculty members, and the student services office to join as an NHS member. Everyone seems confident about their odds of making it through the selection procedure. Since it’s already their junior year in school, joining this school year would be ideal.<\/p>\n

Still, the school board’s NHS faculty council, which has the power to decide your child’s NHS membership status, seems to have rejected them in violation of the bylaws for qualification.<\/p>\n

Dangler vs. Yorktown Cent. Schools<\/i><\/h3>\n

That’s exactly what happened to Justin Dangler in 1991. His school, Yorktown Central Schools, turned him down for NHA membership despite a 3.93 GPA and his active participation in student volunteering activities. The school claimed Justin was turned down because of his alleged use of profanity against students and teachers. But Justin’s parents believed the family’s political activism was the real reason behind the rejection.<\/p>\n

Concerned for their son’s college prospects, Justin’s parents sued in federal court, alleging that the school had violated Justin’s civil right to free speech. Justin’s parents also filed for a preliminary injunction<\/a> against Yorktown Central Schools in court, asking a judge to issue a temporary stop order on the rejection until the case is decided. Ultimately, the court sided with the school<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the Dangler case wasn’t directly against the NHS, but rather the local school that controlled the student’s admission, it demonstrated that an NHS-related lawsuit is possible based on civil rights claims. But, the case also showed that suing on First Amendment<\/a> free speech grounds might not be the best way to succeed unless you can actually prove you were shut out from the NHS for your political activism alone.<\/p>\n

The facts of every case are different. Theoretically, if your First Amendment rights were violated for reasons unrelated to just profanity, a court may find in your favor if you can argue that the NHS or its local school chapter wrongfully violated your Constitutional rights to free speech.<\/p>\n

Suing Under Title IX for Sex Discrimination<\/h2>\n

In 1998, Somer Chipman and Chastity Glass of Kentucky sued the local NHS chapter in Grant County School District for not inviting them to join despite their all-star academic backgrounds. The school district had allegedly singled out the girls because they had become pregnant out of wedlock. The American Civil Liberties Union<\/a> (ACLU) disagreed with the school’s alleged criteria. It argued for the girls in court that Somer and Chastity’s sexual activity should not be relevant to their qualifications for joining the NHS.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, titled Chipman v. Grant County School District<\/i>, hinged on whether the girls had been the subject of sexual discrimination<\/a> under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a law that prohibited this very type of discrimination in schools that received federal aid. Early into the life of the case, the court hearing the matter granted a preliminary injunction in favor of the girls. The preliminary injunction was a court order instructing the school to allow the girls into the NHS.<\/p>\n

But before the case went to trial, the ACLU obtained a favorable settlement<\/a> for the girls. The settlement required the school to pay them damages and to be more transparent with its NHS qualification procedures.<\/p>\n

Suing on Equal Protection and Due Process Grounds<\/h2>\n

The United States Constitution provides people with equal protection and due process under the Fourteenth Amendment<\/a>, which reads in part:<\/p>\n

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property,<\/i> without due process of law<\/i> ; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the<\/i> equal protection<\/i> of the laws."<\/i><\/blockquote>\n

In the same case, Chipman v. Grant County School District, the ACLU also argued that Somer and Chastity’s Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated. The ACLU’s due process and equal protection arguments were that pregnancy status was not rationally related to the school’s objective of inviting students into the NHS and that the girls had a right to bodily autonomy.<\/p>\n

We don’t know how the court would have ultimately ruled. But the injunction suggests that it would have found in Somer and Chastity’s favor.<\/p>\n

Other Ways to Sue the National Honor Society<\/h2>\n

Another basis for a lawsuit is that the NHS violated its own rules. The NHS has its own bylaws in the form of a National Constitution<\/a>. In addition to setting forth the organization’s mission, the NHS National Constitution contains all the rules that faculty councils must follow in order to admit members. For example, it sets out dismissal procedures, which state in part:<\/p>\n

Members who fall below the standards that were the basis for their selection shall be promptly warned in writing by the chapter adviser and given a reasonable amount of time to correct the deficiency, except that in the case of flagrant violation of school rules or the law, a member does not have to be warned.<\/i><\/blockquote>\n

If a faculty council revokes your membership for something small without any warning, you may have a legal right to sue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are other ways that you could sue the NHS or any of its local school chapters. Your ability to sue successfully depends on many factors, such as:<\/p>\n