Griffin v. Tatum
| Decision Date | 20 April 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 28082.,28082. |
| Parties | Bobby GRIFFIN, a minor, by and through his father and next friend, Mr. A. A. Griffin, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Mr. Fordyce TATUM, individually and as Principal of Wetumpka High School, et al., Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Joseph D. Phelps, Montgomery, Ala., for appellants.
Charles V. Welden, Jr., Calvin Whitesell, Montgomery, Ala., for appellee.
Before BELL, AINSWORTH and CARSWELL, Circuit Judges.
Appellants, a high school principal and assistant principal, appeal from an order of the district court requiring them to reinstate a student who had been suspended from school for violation of a hairstyle regulation. The regulation was promulgated by appellants in their capacity as school administrators.1
Bobby Griffin, the appellee herein, was enrolled as a student in Wetumpka High School, beginning in 1964 and each school year thereafter until April 15, 1969 when he was suspended by appellants for wearing his hair in a style which did not conform to their interpretation of a school regulation.
The regulation provided that Appellants interpreted this regulation to the students at school assemblies to the effect that there could be no sideburns longer than the middle of the ear, that the hair in front could be no longer than one inch above the eyebrows, and that the hair in back must be tapered as opposed to being blocked. It was this latter interpretation, that the hair must be tapered in the back as opposed to being blocked which was student Griffin's undoing.
He wore his hair in a manner conforming to the regulation in all respects except that it was blocked in the back. He refused, after two requests from appellants, to have his hair cut in a tapered fashion as distinguished from a block. Two photographs, taken on the day after suspension and which were contemporaneous in nature, support the finding of the district court that appellee was neat and well groomed. It was undisputed that appellee was suspended solely by reason of the fact that his hair was blocked in the back as opposed to being tapered.
No claim was made that the overall regulation was invalid. The attack was limited by the pleadings to the suspension of appellee for not having his hair "cut to the liking of the School Administration". This resolved itself solely into a blocked haircut problem.
The district court concluded that the application of the hairstyle rule to appellee constituted an arbitrary and unreasonable classification to the extent that it violated the equal protection and due process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Not satisfied to stop at this point, the court went further and struck the entire regulation. First Amendment grounds were excluded as a basis for the action of the court.
The clearly erroneous rule is a sufficient basis for affirming the district court as to the wrongful suspension of appellant and for striking the blocked hair prohibition as it was applied to him. For a similar holding on equal protection grounds, see Zachry v. Brown, N.D.Ala., 1969, 299 F.Supp. 1360; and on due process grounds, see Breen v. Kahl, W.D.Wis., 1969, 296 F.Supp. 702, aff'd 7 Cir., 1969, 419 F.2d 1034; Richards v. Thurston, D.C.Minn., 1969, 304 F.Supp. 449. Contra, Crews v. Cloncs, S.D.Ind., 1969, 303 F.Supp. 1370.
We reverse, however, as to the action of the district court in striking the entire hairstyle regulation. This court held in Ferrell v. Dallas Independent School District, 5 Cir., 1968, 392 F. 2d 697, that it was proper for school authorities to establish rules and regulations in the interest of school management and this included a hairstyle regulation. We have not denied school authorities in this circuit the right to promulgate reasonable regulations concerning hairstyles. Such regulations and regulations which deal generally with dress and the like are a part of the disciplinary process which is necessary in maintaining a balance as between the rights of individual students and the rights of the whole in the functioning of schools. The touchstone for sustaining such regulations is the demonstration that they are necessary to alleviate interference with the educational process. Ferrell v. Dallas Independent School System, supra, at p. 703. That such regulations may be necessary and, if so, that they may be promulgated and enforced, is also clear from the tenor of Tinker v. Des Moines Community School District, 1969, 393 U.S. 503, 89 S.Ct. 733, 21 L.Ed.2d 731.
It is also well to bear in mind that "in measuring the appropriateness...
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Stull v. School Board of Western Beaver Jr.-Sr. HS
...length would be a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. See also Westley v. Rossi, 305 F.Supp. 706 (D.Minn.1969); Griffin v. Tatum, 425 F.2d 201 (5th Cir. 1970); Zachry v. Brown, 299 F.Supp. 1360 (N.D.Ala. 14 In Crews v. Cloncs, 432 F.2d 1259 (7th Cir. 1970), the court expounded upon th......
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Karr v. Schmidt
...such regulations is the demonstration that they are necessary to alleviate interference with the educational process." Griffin v. Tatum, 5 Cir., 1970, 425 F. 2d 201, 203. In applying this test, the district court heard evidence from both parties. Witnesses for the defendant school board wer......
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Hunt v. Board of Fire Com'rs of Massapequa Fire Dist.
...most speak in terms of substantive due process or the right to be let alone: Crews v. Cloncs, 7 Cir., 432 F.2d 1259; Griffin v. Tatum, 5 Cir., 425 F.2d 201; King v. Saddleback Junior College District, 9 Cir., 425 F.2d 426, on remand, D.C., 318 F.Supp. 89; Richards v. Thurston, 1 Cir., 424 F......
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King v. Saddleback Junior College District, 26452
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