Arrington v. Taylor
| Citation | 380 F. Supp. 1348 |
| Decision Date | 28 August 1974 |
| Docket Number | No. C-220-D-72.,C-220-D-72. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of North Carolina |
| Parties | Robert Lane ARRINGTON et al., Plaintiffs, v. Ferebee TAYLOR and William Friday et al., Defendants. |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
John R. Jordan, Jr., William R. Hoke, Jordan, Morris & Hoke, Attys., Raleigh, N. C., for Ferebee Taylor, William Friday, Joseph C. Eagles, Jr., Board of Trustees of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and The Board of Governors of University of North Carolina.
H. Hugh Stevens, Jr., Robert W. Spearman, Raleigh, N. C., for intervening defendant Susan Miller.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. This action is brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343, and venue under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b).
2. Plaintiff, Robert Lane Arrington, and the other five plaintiffs, are all citizens and residents of North Carolina and at the time of the institution of this action, students in good standing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (hereinafter, the University).
3. Plaintiffs have paid all fees due and owing by them to the University.
4. Plaintiffs are taxpayers to and of North Carolina.
5. Original defendants are Ferebee Taylor, Chancellor of the University; William C. Friday, President of the University of North Carolina; Joseph C. Eagles, Jr., Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance of the University; the Board of Trustees of the University; and the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina. The original defendants in their official capacities are officers and agents of the State of North Carolina.
6. Intervening defendant, Susan Miller, is a student in good standing at the University and is Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Tar Heel.
7. The defendant Board of Governors has been authorized by N.C.G.S. § 116-11(7) to establish the amount of tuition and all mandatory fees, including the Student Activities Fee to be paid by each University student each semester. Before the Board of Governors began its official existence as such in 1972, this authority was vested with the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina, the predecessor of the Board of Governors.
8. The Board of Governors and its predecessor have exercised the authority to set Student Activities Fees for the University. The revenues from the collection of these fees in 1970, 1971, and 1972 were more than $250,000.00 each year. The current University Student Activities Fee rates are $9.00 per semester for undergraduate students, $7.00 per semester for graduate and professional students, and $3.00 for summer school students. All regularly-enrolled University students are required to pay the Student Activities Fees, and plaintiffs have paid them.
9. A student who fails to pay any part of his accounts with the University, including the Student Activities Fees, is assessed a late payment penalty. If the account is not paid at the end of a term or semester, the University will refuse to issue grades, a transcript of credits, or a diploma.
10. The Board of Governors' predecessor, the Board of Trustees, authorized the Student Legislature (now called the Campus Governing Council) to allocate among the several student organizations and activities the funds derived from the Student Activities Fee. However, at least a certain amount was required to be allocated each semester and term to and for the benefit of the Carolina Union.
11. The Board of Governors' predecessor, the Board of Trustees, has altered the amount of the Student Activities Fee without the request or consent of the Student Government of the University.
12. The defendant Board of Governors and its predecessor, the Board of Trustees, has the ultimate authority pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 116-11(7) over the collection and allocation of the funds collected from the Student Activities Fee. Therefore, the defendant Board of Governors has the power and authority to determine the amount disbursed to The Daily Tar Heel.
13. University Student Activities Fees are collected and disbursed in the following manner: Each student is billed for the mandatory Student Activity Fee along with his other obligations to the University. As payments are made by students, the collections are deposited by University employees in North Carolina National Bank in a Student Activity Fee account. A separate bank account is maintained at Central Carolina Bank and Trust Company by the Student Activities Fund Office, an agency of Student Government and primary disbursing agent for the proceeds of the Student Activity Fees which were appropriated by the Campus Governing Council and its predecessor, the Student Legislature. When employees or vendors are to be paid from the Student Activities Fee proceeds in accordance with an appropriation of the Campus Governing Council, a requisition is signed by the fiscal representative of the organization on whose behalf payment is being made, and a check payable to the employee or vendor is drawn by the Director of the Student Activities Fund Office on the Student Government account at Central Carolina Bank and Trust Company. The Student Activities Fund Office account at Central Carolina Bank is then reimbursed from the University's Trust Fund Accounting Section Account at North Carolina National Bank when copies of the requisition and the Student Activities Fund check are presented to the University Trust Fund's accounting section. An alternative procedure is available whereby the fiscal agent of the student activity and the Director of the Student Activities Fund Office sign a requisition and present it to the University's Trust Fund account section which writes a check payable to the payee on the Student Activities Fee account at North Carolina National Bank.
14. The actions of employees of the University in paying over Student Activities Fees to the Student Activities Fund Office are purely ministerial activities, and such employees exercise no discretion in determining whether such payments should be made so long as the credit balance in the North Carolina National Bank student activities fee account is sufficient to cover the expenditure.
15. The Campus Governing Council and its predecessor, the Student Legislature, have for many years appropriated funds for the benefit of The Daily Tar Heel (along with other student activities). Such appropriation for The Daily Tar Heel for 1972-73 was $54,800.00, and has exceeded $30,000.00 for each of the fiscal years since 1968. The original defendants do not decide or determine and have not attempted to decide or determine the amount of Student Activities Fees allocated to The Daily Tar Heel. During summer school, appropriations from the proceeds of Summer School Student Activities Fees are made by student government to various organizations, including a summer school edition of The Daily Tar Heel, in a manner not materially different from that employed during the regular academic year.
16. The Business Manager of each organization, including the Business Manager of The Daily Tar Heel, receives funds transferred to it from the Treasurer of the Student Body. Acting under the authority of the Treasurer of the Student Body, the Business Manager of The Daily Tar Heel disburses funds to pay for goods and services secured by The Daily Tar Heel.
17. The manner and procedures for the disbursement of funds derived from the collection of the mandatory Student Activities Fees has been altered within the past three years by certain of the original defendants without the knowledge or consent, and upon the protest, of the Student Government of the University.
18. The members of the Campus Governing Council and its predecessor, the Student Legislature, are elected annually by and from the student body, and every University student in good standing, including the plaintiffs, is eligible to seek election to the Council and to vote for the election of its members. This Campus Governing Council, which is composed exclusively of students, is the legislative branch of the Student Government of the University. The Campus Governing Council now has and exercises the authority to allocate the proceeds of the Student Activities Fees, except for that portion which automatically goes to the Carolina Student Union.
19. The President of the Student Body of the University is the chief executive officer of the Student Government. He is, by law, a member of the Board of Trustees of the University, a defendant herein.
20. The judicial branch of the Student Government consists of the Honor Courts and a Supreme Court of the Student Body.
21. The establishment and development of student government at the University has been acquiesced in and approved by the original defendants.
22. The Student Government of the University occupies, rent-free, buildings owned by the State of North Carolina and furnished for the benefit of the University.
23. The original defendants and their predecessors have delegated to the Student Government of the University, and have acquiesced in the assumption by the Student Government of power and authority with regard to the discipline of students. The Student Government performs a variety of other governmental functions.
24. It is within the authority of the Chancellor of the University to revoke any such express or implied delegation of power and authority of the Student Government, either upon his own initiative or upon the direction of the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina.
25. The Daily Tar Heel is a student newspaper published at the University by the Publications Board, a student government agency. The Daily Tar Heel occupies offices...
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