Professor Blake Klinkner published in the Wyoming Lawyer
Can Room Scans Prior to Remote Examination Constitute a Violation of the Fourth Amendment?
Blake A. Klinkner
As videoconferencing has become ubiquitous, questions have arisen over the degree to which we should allow, or require, this technology to intrude into our personal spaces. During the COVID era’s rapid transition to online instruction and examination, debates raged among educational institutions as to the degree to which students must have their cameras on during classes and exams, as well as the degree to which educators may employ this technology to monitor the surroundings of their students. A recently decided case, Ogletree v. Cleveland State University, has placed some limitations on the degree to which remote technology may be used to administer exams, by concluding that the common practice of pre-exam room scanning by proctors may violate the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches.
