Can a college or school be held liable for an attack on a student that occurred on campus?
A student attacked on a college campus might have a negligence action against the college. In a developing area of premises liability law, courts have found entities such as universities, motels, convenience stores and shopping malls liable for attacks because they did not exercise reasonable care in preventing victims from being harmed by a third person. In general, a hotel must provide adequate security and not permit people to loiter. In a case involving a college campus, a court would look at the facts and ask whether similar attacks had occurred previously in the same area. If so, the court would ask what security precautions the college had taken, and might find that the steps taken were insufficient, holding the college liable.
