Student On Student Vaginal Ultrasounds Found To Be Search Under Fourth Amendment
By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 Earlier this week, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals found that a transvaginal ultrasound requested of college students at Valencia College in Florida was a search for Fourth Amendment purposes. California is within the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals , but often sister jurisdiction decisions impact and influence decisions here. The decision is noteworthy for its facts, which college students may want to be aware of, and for the definitive ruling that this conduct did involve a search for purposes of Fourth Amendment analysis. The basics are that students who entered the state run Valencia College Sonography program were allegedly asked to "volunteer" for transvaginal ultrasounds to be performed on them by other students in the program (male and female). Three students refused. Two were allegedly thereafter badgered into allowing this invasive procedure to be done on them. The thi...