Kansas Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments by videoconference

TOPEKA—Kansas Court of Appeals judges will hear one appeal by videoconference at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 2. The oral arguments will be livestreamed on YouTube.

It is the second time during the pandemic that a Court of Appeals panel will hear oral arguments remotely and livestream them. Another panel heard an appeal in the same manner May 12.

Ordinarily, Court of Appeals panels hear oral arguments in multiple cases each month. When the Kansas Judicial Center and other courthouses closed to in-person proceedings in mid-March to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Court of Appeals canceled its scheduled oral arguments for March and April. Most of the appeals were placed on the summary calendar, meaning they will be decided on their written records without oral argument. Parties who want to argue their cases before a panel of judges can make that request.

"I am pleased we are able to accommodate parties who want to present their arguments by offering videoconferencing, and that we are able to livestream the proceedings so others can watch," said Court of Appeals Judge Melissa Taylor Standridge, who is the presiding judge for the June 2 docket. "Despite restrictions due to COVID-19, our court is still able to timely hear appeals, guaranteeing that people's access to justice is not hindered."

Joining Standridge on the panel participating in Tuesday's docket are Court of Appeals Judge G. Gordon Atcheson and Senior Judge James Burgess. They and the attorneys will all appear from separate locations by videoconference.

The case on the June 2 docket is:

Appeal No. 121,249: Raymond Kamila v. University of Kansas

The appeal involves a dispute over the extent to which the university can discipline students for off-campus conduct. Kamila was expelled from KU in 2017 after a disciplinary hearing panel found he violated multiple provisions of the student code when he made unwanted advances and sent harassing messages to two female students. Kamila now claims that the university acted outside the scope of its jurisdiction because most of his conduct occurred either off campus or online.

In a previous case, a separate panel of this court held the student code dealt only with conduct occurring either on campus or at university-sponsored events, and thus it lacked the authority to discipline a student for his off-campus behavior. See Yeasin v. University of Kansas, 51 Kan. App. 2d 939, 360 P.3d 423 (2015). The university has since updated its student code to apply to off-campus conduct that affects the on-campus safety of its members; therefore, this appeal asks whether that updated language is enough to grant the university jurisdiction over Kamila's off-campus and online conduct.