Healy v. James

• Citation: 311 F. Supp. 1275
• Decision Date: 24 April 1970
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 13721.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
• Parties: Catherine J. HEALY et al., Plaintiffs, v. F. Don JAMES et al., Defendants.

311 F. Supp. 1275

Catherine J. HEALY et al., Plaintiffs, v. F. Don JAMES et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 13721.

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

April 24, 1970.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Alvin Pudlin, Abraham S. Silver, Pudlin & Silver, New Britain, Conn., for plaintiffs.

F. Michael Ahern, Asst. Atty. Gen., State of Connecticut, Hartford, Conn., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

CLARIE, District Judge.

This case was submitted to the Court on a stipulation of facts agreed to by counsel. The plaintiffs are students at Central Connecticut State College (CCSC) and the defendants are CCSC administrators or members of its Board of Trustees. Jurisdiction is alleged pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and § 1983, 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3) and (4), and Article III, § 2 of the Constitution. The plaintiffs are claiming deprivation of their constitutional rights under the first, fifth and fourteenth amendments to the federal constitution.

The plaintiffs, following the established procedures, sought official recognition by the college for an organization to be known as a local chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society. (SDS). Such a status of official recognition entitles the organization to announce its activities in the campus newspaper, have access to post notices on the college bulletin boards, and have assigned to them at their requests, college facilities for meetings and a faculty adviser. Recognition does not thereby entitle an organization to college financial support. In accordance with the established procedure, the plaintiffs submitted their application to defendant Judd, the Acting Dean of Student Affairs; it contained a written statement of the purposes, the names of the officers and the procedures of the proposed organization.¹ It stated therein that the CCSC students for a Democratic Society were not under the dictates of any national organization. Dean Judd and President James of CCSC were further orally informed by some of the petitioners, that their organization would in no way be affiliated with, or owe allegiance to the officers of any national organization known as the SDS.

The declared purposes of the organization set out in the petition to the Student Personnel Committee requesting official recognition were as follows:

"1. Because the university is intended to be the arena of education, where there is an unfettered exchange of ideas, S.D.S. would provide a forum of discussion and self-education for students developing an analysis of American society and institutions, including higher education, and the world situation in general.

"2. Because it is felt that ideas without parallel in deeds are empty and ephemeral, and that no area of life exists in a vacuum and unrelated to all other areas of life. S.D.S. would provide an agency for integrating thought with action so as to bring about constructive changes in the university, in American life, and the world.

"3. Because of the responsibility of all peoples for the welfare of others, S.D.S. would provide a coordinating body for relating the problems of leftist students and other groups, such as the student body as a whole, the working class, the black populace or whatever other individuals or groups in fact or potentially in accord with the purposes of the CCSC chapter of S.D.S." Petitioners' Exhibit A.

This application was referred to the Student Personnel Committee, an advisory group consisting of the Dean of Students, three faculty members, and four students, whose function it was to review and recommend policies concerning student affairs. This group favorably voted six to two to recommend to President James that the SDS chapter be given official recognition by the administration as a campus organization. Notwithstanding the committee's recommendation, James denied them official recognition and accompanied it with the following statement:

"I am disapproving recognition of a local chapter of Students for a Democratic Society.

"Though I have full appreciation for the action of the student Affairs Committee and the reasons stated in their minutes for the majority vote recommending approval of a local chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, it is my judgment that the statement of purpose to form a local chapter of Students for a Democratic Society carries full and unmistakable adherence to at least some of the major tenets of the national organization, loose and divided though that organization may be. The published aims and philosophy of the Students for a Democratic Society, which include disruption and violence, are contrary to the approved policy (by faculty, students, and administration) of Central Connecticut State College which states:

`Students do not have the right to invade the privacy of others, to damage the property of others, to disrupt the regular and essential operation of the college, or to interfere with the rights of others.'

"The further statement on the request for recognition that `CCSC Students for a Democratic Society are not under the dictates of any National organization' in no way clarifies why if a group intends to follow the established policy of the College, they wish to become a local chapter of an organization which openly repudiates such a policy.

"Freedom of speech, academic freedom on the campus, the freedom of establishing an open forum for the exchange of ideas, the freedoms outlined in the Statement of Rights, Freedoms and Responsibilities of Students that `college students and student organizations shall have the right to examine and discuss all questions of interest to them, to express opinion publicly and privately, and to support causes by orderly means. They may organize public demonstrations and protest gatherings and utilize the right of petition,' —these are all precious freedoms that we cherish and are freedoms on which we stand. To approve any organization or individual who joins with an organization which openly repudiates those principles is contrary to those freedoms and to the approved `Statement on the Rights, Freedoms, and Responsibilities of Students' at Central." Petitioners' Exhibit D.

Prior to the current incident, the school administration, with faculty approval, had commendably adopted and generally promulgated a written set of school policies defining the "Rights, Freedoms, and Responsibilities" of students at the college. Article V, Section E thereof, provides:

"College students and student organizations shall have the right to examine and discuss all questions of interest to them, to express opinion publicly and privately, and to support causes by orderly means. They may organize public demonstrations and protest gatherings and utilize the right to petition. Students do not have the right to deprive others of the opportunity to speak or be heard. * * *" Petitioners' Exhibit B.

Following the disapproval action by President James, some of the petitioners, along with other students not herein parties, met at a campus coffee shop to discuss the President's action. During this meeting they were approached by defendants Judd and Clow, the latter being the Dean of Administrative Affairs at CCSC, and served with a memorandum which stated:

"Notice has been received by this office of a meeting of the `C.C.S.C.—S. D.S. on Thursday—November 6 at 7:00 p. m. at the Devils' Den'.

"Such meeting may not take place in the Devils Den of the Student Center nor in or on any other property of the college since the C.C.S.C.—S.D.S. is not a duly recognized college organization.

"You are hereby notified by this action to cease and desist from meeting on college property." Petitioners' Exhibit E.

The respondents concede that at all times pertinent to the above events, the Board of Trustees for CCSC had knowledge of the actions of the defendants James, Judd and Clow and the Court thus infers that the action and the procedures followed were carried out with its approval.

Article III, § E of the school's policy statement, supra, provides in part:

"The judicial process shall be such that students have the right to appeal not only disciplinary action deemed unwarranted but also a college regulation or policy considered unjust. The decision of the appeal court shall be final, subject only to the student's appeal to the President of the College or ultimately to the Board of Trustees." Petitioners' Exhibit B.

Petitioners now seek an order from this Court restraining the defendants and their agents from interfering with them and others similarly situated from meeting as an organization and participating in activities as a local chapter of the SDS, and directing said defendants to afford said organization official recognition as a campus student organization.

The petitioners are not challenging the constitutionality of the standards established by the college for the recognition of campus organizations and thus that question is not before the Court. The plaintiffs do claim that their application for recognition does conform with the established standards and that defendant James' action in going outside that application and arbitrarily attributing to them aims and purposes not evidenced therein, without first affording them some form of a hearing was in itself a constitutional denial of procedural due process of law.

There is nothing in the stated purposes of the petitioners on the application itself which can be said to be inconsistent with the standards for recognition set by the college.² In fact, President James in his memorandum denying recognition, presents no claim to the contrary. His reasons for denying recognition were based on what he personally considered to be the aims and philosophy of the National Organization of the SDS. These aims and objectives he attributed to the petitioners and found them to be contrary to those established at CCSC. Thus it must be determined whether or not President James exceeded the bounds of procedural due process in going outside the ...