Healy v. James
| Decision Date | 29 October 1970 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 13721. |
| Citation | 319 F. Supp. 113 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut |
| Parties | Catherine J. HEALY et al., Plaintiffs, v. F. Don JAMES et al., Defendants. |
Alvin Pudlin, Abraham S. Silver, Pudlin & Silver, New Britain, Conn., for plaintiffs.
F. Michael Ahern, Asst. Atty. Gen., State of Conn., Hartford, Conn., for defendants.
RULING ON MOTION TO REJECT FINDINGS AND SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Jurisdiction in Healy v. James, 311 F.Supp. 1275 (D.Conn. 1970), was retained by this Court and an evidentiary hearing ordered on plaintiffs' application requesting official campus recognition of a local chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). The purpose of said hearing was to hear evidence and ascertain whether or not the proposed group had among its aims and purposes the philosophy of violent activism.
The College President appointed Richard L. Judd, Dean of Student Affairs, as his representative hearings officer to carry out the Court's order, so that the applicants would be afforded a hearing. After due notice to the parties, evidentiary hearings were had on May 19th and May 25th, 1970, respectively. Two of the original applicants accompanied by retained counsel and several interested persons attended these hearings. Exhibits were filed by the petitioners and the respondents, testimony was offered, arguments of counsel presented and a complete verbatim transcript of these proceedings was made.
After having reviewed this transcript of the evidence as well as the exhibits, President James filed his decision on July 10, 1970, in which he reaffirmed his earlier findings and denied official college recognition to the proposed SDS chapter, together with his reasons for these conclusions. After a copy of that decision had been received by plaintiffs' counsel, the plaintiffs moved that this Court reject the findings of President James and grant the equitable relief which the plaintiffs had originally sought. Their proposed remedy would have afforded them the right to form a local chapter of the SDS at Central Connecticut State College (CCSC) with official campus recognition by the college administration. The Court will treat the pending motion, as if cross-motions for summary judgment had been filed by the parties; and it finds that the plaintiffs' constitutional claims are without merit, accordingly it denies their prayer for equitable relief and orders a dismissal of the action.
The court-ordered administrative hearing added some elements of factual substance to the plaintiffs' original application. Certainly, the formal requisites of administrative procedural due process have now been met. Both parties had the opportunity to supplement and complete the prior record,1 not only on the issue of whether the local chapter of SDS was affiliated with the national organization, but also offered an opportunity for the college administration to place in evidence factual support for the conclusions which President James found, and which he claims warranted his denial of plaintiffs' application. The plaintiffs' supplemental evidence consisted primarily of one written "statement," Plaintiffs' Exhibit #1, purporting to change that part of the name of the applicant organization, which originally referred to itself as a local chapter of the SDS and to reaffirm its alleged unaffiliated status. The relevent part stated:
The hearings officer offered sua sponte several exhibits2 disclosing the historical sequence in the processing of the application, and several Congressional hearings' transcripts of testimony under oath, which pertained to the inherent nature of the national SDS organization. These latter documents reviewed the history of the national organization's turbulent and violent activities on other campuses, as well as its openly declared anarchistic objectives, both political and social. A complete transcript of the hearings officer's report, together with all the exhibits have been filed with this Court.
The Student Affairs Committee initially received on October 2, 1969 the petitioners' application requesting official campus approval. This committee composed of the Dean of Students, four faculty members and three students, had been delegated with the power to "recommend for faculty approval the policies and procedures for the establishment and recognition of all clubs, groups and organizations at the college."3
The committee's authority was specifically limited however, by the Board of Trustees, through a general policy statement governing the function and responsibilities of such groups. This limitation provided:
4
Thus, the final decision of that committee was clearly subject to the veto of the College President.
At the October meeting, when the original application was being considered by the committee, representatives of the group were asked how they would respond to issues of violence as compared to the action taken by other SDS chapters, where violence had in fact erupted on college campuses. Their response was significantly evasive and obtuse; it was consistent with and typical of a generally recognized pattern of response, by those who are known to foster subversive and violent conduct. They stated, "our action would have to depend on each issue." When pressed on the means of action to be used, the response again was in similar vein. When specifically asked whether they could foresee the organization's activities interrupting a college classroom activity, their response was that it was impossible to say.5 The committee's action was deferred until October 13, 1969, when supplemental data was to be submitted. At the latter meeting, the question was asked as to the meaning of the term "local chapter," as it related to the national alliance. The response was that there was no such thing as an SDS national and the members wanted to keep a loose arrangement, so as to pick ideas from several of the factioned groups; furthermore, the concept of SDS exists in the minds of those who run it. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Student Affairs Committee voted 6-2 to record their approval of the local chapter as an approved campus club. However, this was done with the proviso that they would consider immediate suspension of the local chapter, if its activities, programs and functions were incompatible with those of the college, under Chapter Section 5-E relating to a Statement on Rights, Freedoms and Responsibilities of Students6 which reads in part:
"Students do not have the right to deprive others of the opportunity to speak or to be heard, 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."
An additional reason advanced by the majority of the Student Affairs Committee to justify...
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Healy v. James
...the Dean of Administrative Affairs of the College and the members of the Board of Trustees for the State Colleges of Connecticut. 319 F.Supp. 113 (D.Conn.1970); see also 311 F.Supp. 1275 (D.Conn.1970). We hold that the District Court correctly ruled that defendants, in denying official coll......
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FLLI Moretti Cereali v. Continental Grain Co.
...court to grant summary judgment sua sponte where it is clear that a case does not present an issue of material fact; Healy v. James, 319 F.Supp. 113 (D.Conn.1970), aff'd, 445 F.2d 1122 (2d Cir. 1971), rev'd on other grounds, 408 U.S. 169, 92 S.Ct. 2338, 33 L.Ed.2d 266 (1972); cf. 6 Moore's ......
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Herzog and Straus v. GRT Corp.
...may arise in such a manner that an accelerated determination can be made without unfairness to the parties. See Healy v. James, 319 F.Supp. 113 (D.Conn.1970), aff'd, 445 F.2d 1122, 1129 (2 Cir. 1971), rev'd on other grounds, 408 U.S. 169 (1972). I would continue to adhere to the practice in......