David A. Schaer, a former Brandeis University student who accused the school of unfairly disciplining him for alleged date rape in 1996, lost his appeal in a decision by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts yesterday.

The court ruled Schaer had "failed to state a claim on which relief may be granted." This decision overturned a previous appellate court ruling that had ruled in Schaer's favor.

Schaer claimed Brandeis had breached its "contract" with him when the school didn't follow the disciplinary process as laid out in the student handbook. But the court determined that Brandeis had followed procedure in the areas in which Schaer objected.

The school suspended Schaer for several months and then put him on disciplinary probation for the remainder of his time at Brandeis. A woman undergraduate accused him of raping her while they were spending time together in her room, but Schaer claimed the intercourse was consensual.

This case raised the question of whether universities are bound by what is printed in the student handbook.

The courts treated Schaer v. Brandeis as if the relationship were contractual, but said in its decision that declined to make a formal ruling on the question.

David M. Lipton, Schaer's lawyer, said the relationship between a student and a university is inherently contractual.

"The overwhelming weight of judicial procedure holds that the relation between students and universities is contractual in nature. The terms and conditions of that contract are in the handbook of students," he said.