(MA)Anti-Hazing Laws do not apply to State Police Academy

[USP45]

http://www.telegram.com/news/page_one/haze.html

Court says academy immune

Wednesday, August 01, 2001

By Kathleen A. Shaw
Telegram & Gazette Staff


The Massachusetts Appeals Court yesterday ruled that the state's anti-hazing law does not apply to the State Police Academy.
A suit was filed in 1995 by Carol Perkins of Sterling against the state police alleging she had to leave the academy in 1992 after being forced to endure physical activities during a serious illness.
Worcester lawyer Gary H. Goldberg said last night his client's illness started as a bad cold and then became a form of pneumonia. There was an understanding with state police officials that physical duties would be restricted while she was ill, he said.
Mr. Goldberg said be believes this agreement was not adequately communicated to staff at the academy. On a day when the temperature reached 90 degrees, the academy staff decided to hold what he called a “room change exercise.” The cadets had to go up and down stairs carrying drawers and other items from one room to another. The goal was to bring about physical fitness and mental toughness.
Ms. Perkins completed the exercise despite her illness, asked for water and was denied, Mr. Goldberg said. She resigned, fearing for her health after her throat got worse and physical symptoms worsened, he said. She attempted to return a few days later when her health improved, but was told it was too late, he added.
Mr. Goldberg said he looked to a previous court decision that the hazing statute did apply to a man who died during heavy physical exercise at a police training academy.
The appeals court said yesterday that “the hazing statute is not applicable to the academy, as it is not a student organization, but rather a school, an educational institution,” said Judge Raya S. Dreben. The ruling was reported yesterday on the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Web site at www.masslawyersweekly.com.
The court said there was “no legislative directive or enunciated public policy that precludes the academy, a quasi-military training institution, from discharging a cadet who cannot tolerate the rigors and discipline required of other recruits or from discharging a cadet without any cause at all.”
Mr. Goldberg said he and his client are considering an appeal to the state's Supreme Judicial Court, but no decision has been made.
Sgt. Timothy C. White, a spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police, said last night his agency could not comment on the court ruling because it had not yet received a copy.
The suit was first filed in Worcester Superior Court. Judge James P. Donahue granted summary judgment for the state police. Mr. Goldberg said the judge did not find for his client, but did say he thought the hazing statue applied to the academy. “This decision by the appeals court reverses that,” Mr. Goldberg said. He interpreted the court ruling as saying the issue of what constitutes hazing is a “slippery slope.”