People ex rel. Pratt v. College

E. Hartley Pratt, a student in Wheaton college, joined a secret society known as the Good Templars, in violation of the college rules. For this the faculty “ suspended him from the privileges of the institution until he should express a purpose to conform to its rules.” His father thereupon applied for a mandamus to compel the college to re-instate him as a student. The mandamus was refused, and the relator has brought the case here.

Wheaton college is an incorporated institution, resting upon private endowments, and deriving no aid whatever from the State or from taxation. Its charter gives…