STUDENT SUES SEATTLE CENTRAL OVER MARIJUANA CONFESSION

A 16-year-old Running Start student is suing Seattle Central
Community College claiming she was kicked out of school after being
coerced into signing a statement related to marijuana possession.

The student is asking her suspension be reversed, alleging the
statement she signed was false -- and that the college's campus
security officers acted inappropriately by forcing her admission of
guilt.

The lawsuit, filed late last month on behalf of Whitney Williams and
her mother, states that Seattle Central security officers smelled
marijuana near Williams and two friends a block and a half from the
Capitol Hill campus last April. The officers asked the students to
come to the security office, where they found a bag of marijuana in
Williams' book bag.

The security officers denied Williams the chance make a phone call,
instead insisting that she draft a confessional statement, the
lawsuit alleges.

"At this point, Whitney was crying and begging these men to allow her
to speak with her mother by phone before she drafted any statement,"
court documents state.

After she wrote the statement, an officer said she couldn't call her
mother until she added text, which he dictated, according to the lawsuit.

Court documents to not indicate what was included in the
statement.

Williams, a Bainbridge Island resident, attended Seattle Central as a
Running Start student, meaning she received both high school and
college credit for classes.

According to documents, the statement led to the 16-year-old being
effectively expelled until after her high school graduation. Williams
attended a disciplinary hearing, where she asked for lenience.

"During her hearing, she pleaded with the hearing panel not to
diminish her pursuit of higher educational options," court documents
say. "As Whitney put it, 'Education is my thing.'"

In a letter from Seattle Central President Mildred Ollee, Williams
was informed she would not be welcome back at the school this fall.

The letter is quoted: "The final decision is you are suspended from
enrollment at Seattle Central Community College until such time that
you graduate from high school or obtain a GED. Your enrollment for
fall quarter... will be cancelled and you will need to make other
arrangements for high school attendance for the coming year."

Phone calls to the Williams home and a Seattle Central spokeswoman
were not immediately returned Thursday.

Seattle Central's student code of conduct requires that students
"refraining from actions that endanger themselves or others,"
according to a statement on the college's Web site. What those
actions consist of is not stipulated online.

That Williams was stopped more than a block from Seattle Central's
urban campus could point to a larger trend in higher education.
Around the nation, a growing number of colleges and universities are
starting to take a more proactive approach to monitoring off-campus
behavior and neighbors say the efforts are working.

The University of Washington now enforces its campus behavior code
off campus as well. A student doesn't need to be charged with a
violent crime to activate the campus code; being cited for breaking
the city's noise regulations is enough to score an invite to the
student conduct office.

Seattle University conducts cyber-patrols of student activities,
flagging parties advertised on Facebook or other sites and shutting
those events down when they're deemed inappropriate.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.