Hudson v. Harris, 72-1366.
| Decision Date | 09 May 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 72-1366.,72-1366. |
| Citation | 478 F.2d 244 |
| Parties | Donald HUDSON et al., as representative of a class of all students at Southwestern State College, seeking to form an organization entitled "Viet Nam Veterans Against the War" and/or "Students Against the War," Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Al HARRIS, Individually and as President of Southwestern State College, and Fred G. Janzen, Individually and as Dean of Students of Southwestern State College, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Stephen Jones, Enid, Okl. (Michael P. Atkinson, Enid, Okl., on the brief), for plaintiffs-appellants.
C. Larry Pain, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Larry Derryberry, Atty. Gen., Oklahoma City, Okl., on the brief), for defendants-appellees.
Before HILL and HOLLOWAY, Circuit Judges, and TEMPLAR, District Judge.
This appeal is from the Western District of Oklahoma for summarily dismissing appellants' civil rights action. Appellants bring this class action as representatives of a class of students at Southwestern State College in Oklahoma who undertook the formation of two organizations entitled "Viet Nam Veterans Against the War" and "Students Against the War." Appellees are the college president and the dean of students who rejected appellants' applications for the antiwar organizations.
Southwestern State College is a public, tax-supported institution of higher learning maintained by the State of Oklahoma at Weatherford, Oklahoma. The appellants were students at Southwestern State who opposed the United States' policies in Southeast Asia. On two separate occasions appellants submitted applications to appellees requesting permission to establish an antiwar organization on campus. The applications were submitted pursuant to Southwestern State College regulations requiring any new organization on campus first to secure permission from the dean of students. On both occasions they received a letter from the dean denying their request. The reason behind the denials was
Appellants thereafter brought suit in federal court claiming jurisdiction under the First, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343 and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. They also requested a temporary and permanent injunction prohibiting appellees from refusing to approve their proposed organizations as formal student groups. They also demanded a declaration that Southwestern State College as operated by appellees is violative of the Fourteenth Amendment's due process and equal protection clauses because guidelines for approval of campus organizations are vague and overbroad.
Appellants support their contentions by the following argument. Forty-seven honorary and professional organizations operate on the Southwestern State campus. Many of these organizations, such as the Oklahoma Young Republicans and Oklahoma Young Democrats, are at least in part political organizations. Many other organizations, such as Southwestern State Collegiate Farmers Union, take positions on political issues. Discrimination is also prevalent in the privileged status given certain off-campus organizations. For example, the Armed Forces are permitted to recruit on campus while antiwar organizations are denied use of the campus to solicit memberships and opposition to the Viet Nam war.
Appellees moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground no constitutional right of appellants had been denied, only the privilege of recognition. The motion was granted. It was the trial court's position that college regulations are matters for the legislature rather than the judiciary and only when school administrators act fraudulently, capriciously or arbitrarily may the judiciary interfere with administration of school affairs; that no constitutional right had been denied because neither freedom of expression nor advocacy of individual beliefs...
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