Board of Trustees of University of Mississippi v. Waugh

Decision Date14 July 1913
Docket Number16,700
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
PartiesBOARD OF TRUSTEES OF UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI v. W. P. WAUGH

APPEAL from the chancery court of Lafayette county, HON. T. L. LAMB Special Chancellor.

Suit by W. P. Waugh against the Board of Trustees of the University of Mississippi. From a judgment overruling a demurrer to the bill, defendants appeal.

The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the court.

Decree reversed, demurrer sustained and bill dismissed.

W. C McLean, attorney for appellant.

A. F Fox and W. G. Cavett, attorney for appellee.

Counsel on both sides filed able and elaborate briefs too long for publication.

OPINION

MAYES, Special Judge

The legislature of 1912 passed an act entitled "An act to abolish and prohibit Greek letter fraternities and sororities and all secret orders among students in the University of Mississippi and in all other educational institutions supported in whole or in part, by the state, providing penalties for any trustee, teacher, or other officer connected with the institution for failure or refusal to enforce the provisions of this act, providing penalty for any student who knowingly violates the provisions of this act," etc. See chapter 177, p. 192, Laws of 1912. For purposes of decision we deem it unnecessary to set out the act in full. We shall content ourselves with setting out in this opinion only the particular sections of the act which are involved in this controversy. These sections are 1, 2, 3, and 4.

By section 1 it is provided that the fraternities and sororities, or Greek letter societies known as "Delta Kappa Epsilon," etc., and all other secret orders, chapters, fraternities, sororities, societies, and organizations, of whatever name, or without a name, of similar name and purpose, among students are hereby abolished and further prohibited to exist in the University of Mississippi and in all other educational institutions supported, in whole or in part, by the state. Section 2 provides that no student in the University, or in any other educational institution supported, in whole or in part, by the state, who is a member of any of the orders, chapters, fraternities, sororities, societies and organizations hereby prohibited, shall be permitted to receive any class honors, diplomas or distinctions conferred by the institution of which he is a student, nor to compete nor contend for any prize or medal offered by his respective school, or by any association or individual. But any student who is a member of any of the orders, chapters, fraternities, sororities, societies or organizations aforesaid may, upon entrance to any of the aforesaid schools, file with the chancellor, president or superintendent, as the case may be, an agreement in writing that he will not, during his attendance at said school, affiliate with same, nor attend their meetings, nor in anywise contribute any dues or donations to them, and thereafter, so long as such agreement is complied with in good faith, such student shall not be subjected to the restrictions created by this section. Section 3 commands that the act shall be enforced by the trustees and faculties by such rules and punishments as they may prescribe. Section 4 provides that any member of the board of trustees or faculty or other officer connected with any educational institution supported, in whole or in part, by the state, who shall knowingly permit any violation of this act, and shall fail or refuse to take proper steps to enforce this act, shall be removed from such position by the Governor.

Let it be here noted that the enforcement of this act is imposed upon the trustees and faculties of the educational institutions of the state, and they are required to do it by such rules and punishments as they may prescribe. Let it further be noted that section 4 emphasizes the duty of the trustees and faculties to enforce the act by providing that, if they fail or refuse to take proper steps to enforce it, they shall be removed from their positions by the Governor. When the above act is read, it discloses the fact that in its passage the legislature had two purposes in view. The primary purpose was to prohibit the existence of any secret society at the University of Mississippi, or any other educational institution supported by the state. Its second purpose is to prohibit any student in any of the above institutions continuing to hold membership in any secret society, or affiliating with same in any way, after admission to the educational institutions of the state, from receiving any class honors, diplomas, distinctions, etc., or for competing for any prize or metal at any of such institutions, unless the student will file with the chancellor, president, or superintendent an agreement that he will not during his attendance at any such school affiliate with any of the prohibited secret societies, nor attend any of their meetings, nor contribute in dues or donations while he is a student at any of the educational institutions above named.

The enforcement of the act is committed to the rules prescribed by the trustees and faculties, and it is made their imperative duty, under penalty of removal from office, to see that the act is enforced. In order to carry out the duty which the legislature imposed upon them of enforcing the act, the trustees, by an order placed upon their minutes at the September meeting in 1912, made it a condition precedent to the right of any student to enter the University that each student making an application for admission should be required to sign the following statement: "I hereby state and affirm upon my honor that I am not now pledged to become a member of any of the Greek letter fraternities, societies or sororities named in the Senate Bill 227 of the Laws of Mississippi, 1912, pages 192 and 193, chapter 177, and that I have not become a member of any of said fraternities, sororities or societies within the sixty days preceding the opening of the session of 1912-13. I further pledge and promise not to join any such organizations while I am a student of the University, and that I will not aid or abet or encourage the organization or perpetuation of any such orders or societies while I am a student of the University. I further promise and pledge that I will not apply for nor accept any scholarship or medal, or in any way be the beneficiary of any student's self-help fund, or accept any position in the University while I am a student therein, if I fail to keep or violate any of the provisions of the foregoing pledge. I furthermore promise and pledge to regard this obligation as binding between the sessions of 1912-13 and 1913-14, and that it shall be my purpose and constant endeavor to so act that no word or deed of mine could be even remotely construed as being violative to the letter and the spirit of what is known as the 'Anti-Fraternity Bill,' passed by the last legislature and approved by the Governor February 27, 1912."

When the order of the trustees is examined, it is readily seen that the pledge which the student is required to sign is nothing more than that he will comply with the act of the legislature while he is in the institution. If the statute is constitutional, it occurs to us that the trustees adopted the only practicable way they could of enforcing the act of the legislature. The act is a mere disciplinary regulation. It was the judgment of the legislature that all secret orders were detrimental to the welfare of the educational institutions of the state. These educational institutions are under the control of the legislature. It had the power to create and abolish them, and, having the power to create and abolish, it had the power to regulate; and when the legislature has passed a law disciplinary in its nature, controlling and regulating any subject which it considered to be inimical to the welfare of the institution, it is certainly not within the power of any court to supervise the wisdom of legislative acts and declare its acts unenforceable, merely because it might be the view of the court that the act was unwise and unnecessary. All acts of a legislature are valid unless they conflict with the Constitution of the state or United States, and the acts of the legislature are to be upheld by the courts, unless it is plainly apparent that they conflict with the organic law, after solving all doubts in favor of the validity of the law. Announcing this rule of construction as our guide, a rule that has been repeatedly announced by this court, we proceed to discuss further the act of the legislature under review, and the order of the trustees passed in pursuance of the act.

It appears from the complaint that some time after the legislature passed the law, and after the board of trustees in order to carry out the act of the legislature, had passed the above order requiring this pledge to be taken, the complainant made application for admission to the University, and was declined admittance because he refused to sign the pledge which the trustees said he should sign before he could enter the University. When this was done complainant made application to the chancery court of Lafayette county for an injunction against the board of trustees of the University of Mississippi, asking that the court enjoin them from enforcing the order and require them to refrain from requiring him to sign the pledge incorporated in the application for admission to the University as a student, and prayed further that upon final hearing the act of the legislature in question be declared unconstitutional, as being in conflict with both the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Mississippi,...

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