Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

The sovereignty of the American higher education system has traditionally been inviolate. The judiciary maintained a policy of "academic abstention" when it came to review of academic, employment and educational decisions promulgated by college and university faculty or peer committees. Over the past 20 years, however, the pendulum has begun to swing the other way, with courts actively intervening in the academic decisionmaking process. With litigation the increasingly common result of academic peer review processes, the advantages of alternative d ispute resolution are becoming increasingly visible in an arena that has been noticeably bereft of flexible, effective dispute settlement mechanisms.