Yu

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Katrina Yu appeals an order denying her motion for a preliminary injunction against defendant University of La Verne (the University). We affirm.

Yu, a law student at the University, was charged by the University with plagiarism and academic dishonesty. She was convicted of those charges by a three-person panel known as the “Judicial Board.” Yu then appealed to Allen K. Easley, the dean of the University’s college of law (the Dean). The Dean not only affirmed the Judicial Board’s decision, he increased the sanctions imposed on Yu.

Yu contends that the Dean’s decision to increase her punishment violated Education Code section 94367 (section 94367). This statute prohibits private universities from disciplining students solely on the basis of speech that would be protected from governmental restriction by the federal and state Constitutions if made off campus.

Yu failed to meet her burden of showing the likelihood that she would prevail on the merits of her claim. She did not show that the Dean’s decision to increase her punishment was based solely on her exercise of free speech rights. The trial court therefore did not abuse its discretion in…