Doctoral Dissertation Research: "This is My Right:" Understanding Students Legal Consciousness through Due Process Protection in Chinese Universities

Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Investigators

Abstract

Primary Investigators: Heidi A. Ross and Ran Zhang Title: Doctoral Dissertation Research: This is My Right: Understanding Students Legal Consciousness through Due Process Protection in Chinese Universities 0719715 Abstract This study examines court documents, legal decisions, law and regulations relevant to students' due process rights, and survey and interview data from college students in four Chinese universities to explain the development of Chinese students' legal consciousness. The study will investigate what due process rights mean to Chinese students, how students' legal consciousness influences their legal and non-legal actions, and whether and to what extent this consciousness varies in relation to individual and institutional characteristics. The study's key proposition is that rights consciousness entails not only knowledge of legal rules, but also an awareness of the procedural and substantive values behind such rules and the capability to make situated "rightful" deliberation based on these rules and values. This proposition implies that an individual's claim of due process rights can be justified from three perspectives: provisions in statutes and regulations; internal pressure within the legal system to bring educational and other key sector laws into alignment; and the call of justice or broader legislative intent to protect individuals' rights and interests. Chinese students' rights are a neglected area of research in both education and law. This study will advance the two investigators' early work on students' rights in China, which represent the first set of inquiry in this area. This project will also fill an important and glaring gap in the larger scholarship on rights, citizenship, and resistance in China. Chinese intellectuals, home owners, and peasants have learned to leverage political opportunities within the state system to expand the boundaries of their rights. This study will add significantly to this literature by illuminating the future significance to Chinese society of the development of students' rights consciousness during a critical transition to adulthood. This study also has practical implications for the expanding boundary of students' rights in China. Students' legal consciousness is important not only as a concept worthy of scholarly analysis, but also in its generative power as a catalyst for galvanizing disadvantaged or less powerful social groups to stand up, claim their rights, and affect social change. This study provides a significant opportunity for documenting and examining the historical trajectory and current landscape of the development of students' due process rights in China. Furthermore, the multiple perspectives used in justifying claims to legal rights that are illuminated in this study may be of practical utility for Chinese students who are persistently contesting the boundary of individual freedom in both courtroom and classroom.