Mount Ida Didn't Owe Students Fiduciary Duty, 1st Circ. Rules

The First Circuit snuffed out efforts by former Mount Ida College students to hold the school and its leaders accountable for the rushed and haphazard way it closed, affirming that colleges do not owe a fiduciary duty to students.

Attorney Jeremy Sternberg, who represented the college and three of its leaders, called the students’ arguments “an unsupported effort to undo decades of case law on fiduciary duty.” Mr. Sternberg said if the court found otherwise — that colleges trustees owe that duty to students as well as the institutions — “it would be very hard to get anyone to act as a board member of any college or university.”

“Who are you serving? The law requires you owe a duty to the institution, not to the student,” Mr. Sternberg said. “It’s impossible to serve both. They are not always going to be perfectly aligned.”

READ: Mount Ida Didn't Owe Students Fiduciary Duty, 1st Circ. Rules