Warder v. Board of Regents of University of State of N. Y.
| Decision Date | 11 June 1981 |
| Parties | , 423 N.E.2d 352 In the Matter of Michael Y. WARDER et al., as Proposed First Trustees of the Unification Theological Seminary, Appellants, v. BOARD OF REGENTS OF the UNIVERSITY OF the STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondents. (And Another Proceeding.) |
| Court | New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
Petitioners, proposed trustees of the Unification Theological Seminary, challenge as arbitrary the denial of a provisional charter by the Board of Regents. The Seminary, an educational institution in Barrytown, New York, is sponsored and financially supported by the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity ("Unification Church"), a religious organization incorporated in California in 1961. Since 1975, the Seminary has offered a two-year graduate program of religious education. Seeking incorporation and the authority to confer Master of Religious Education degrees, petitioners applied to the Board of Regents and Commissioner of Education for a provisional charter. Following a lengthy investigation of the Seminary, its sponsor and the educational program offered, the application was denied.
A review of the proceedings is necessary in order to evaluate petitioners' claims. The provisional charter application was submitted in April, 1975. The State Education Department reviewed the application, investigated the Seminary and, in June, 1976, the Deputy Commissioner of Higher and Professional Education issued a report favorable to the Seminary but recommending that action be deferred in light of pending and anticipated investigations of the parent organization. In the fall of 1976, in accordance with Education Department practice, the Seminary was evaluated by two independent consultants. The consultants, while noting certain areas of concern, recommended approval. By February, 1977, the office of counsel for the State Education Department, the Deputy Commissioner of Higher and Professional Education and the Commissioner of Education had recommended approval of the application, which was then forwarded to the Board of Regents for action at the February, 1977 meeting. No action was taken at that time.
In March of that year, legislative resolutions cited recently publicized concern about the policies and practices of the Unification Church and requested the Board of Regents to delay its decision pending investigation. The matter was deferred again following the April meeting of the board, at which Regents Yavner and Griffith, during debate, expressed concern about provisional charter approval, in light of unresolved questions as to faculty and programs and the charges against the Unification Church of involvement with the South Korean government and Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA). They were also concerned about charges that the church and its leaders engaged in or encouraged brainwashing and deceptive practices. Yavner commented critically on the book containing the religious tenets of the church and was of the opinion that it was a political as well as a religious document. Griffith went further to express disapproval of the purposes and activities of the church, which he felt were incompatible with the principles of our society. Yavner moved to delay a decision pending further review by a committee of Regents appointed by the board. The motion carried and Regents Genrich, who would have granted approval and voted against delay, and Yavner together with Bongiorno, another Regent, were appointed to the committee.
Petitioners, dissatisfied with the progress on the Seminary application, commenced an article 78 proceeding in July, 1977 to compel a decision. The proceeding was dismissed upon a determination that the delay was not unreasonable.
In mid-November, 1977, the Regents committee issued a preliminary progress report summarizing the information it had obtained. As to the academic questions, the report summarized the reports of the original consultants and another independent consultant, all of which found the program, facilities and administration adequate. As to the related issues, the committee as yet had found no evidence of a link between the Seminary and the Korean government or KCIA, or of brainwashing at the Seminary or by members of the Unification Church. The committee noted that further investigation by it was necessary because pending investigations by other governmental agencies had not been completed. Furthermore, information obtained by the committee raised questions concerning the Seminary's stability, financing plan and dependence upon the Unification Church as its source of income, and the church's alleged policy of deception in fundraising and recruitment. The Seminary was to be questioned on these matters and given an opportunity to respond.
Petitioners thereafter were requested to furnish affidavits concerning KCIA involvement, recruitment and fundraising techniques of the Unification Church and an audited financial statement from the church. The Education Department, under the direction of the committee, issued a staff report on December 7, 1977, which noted that it was still awaiting responses to some of the questions raised in the previous report. The staff also had confirmed that the Unification Church of New York, Inc., the organization upon which the Seminary was to rely for financial support through a lease arrangement, had become inactive, having transferred the majority of its assets and liabilities to the California organization. A request was outstanding for the submission of an alternative financing plan. The staff stated that evidence, in the form of affidavits and statements from former church members, was available concerning deceptive practices used by church members in fundraising and recruitment but that there was no evidence of advocacy of illegal activities by leaders of the church or petitioners or at the Seminary and no evidence that the Seminary, petitioners or Unification Church were involved with the KCIA.
Before the December, 1977 meeting of the Board of Regents, petitioners were provided with copies of and invited to respond to the information that had been received by the committee. The December meeting produced a decision to defer action on the application in light of the receipt of additional allegations against the church and Seminary, including representations of deception concerning the Seminary program and noncompliance with admissions and program requirements established by the Seminary. Petitioners were also informed that the financial statement of the Unification Church, the substituted lessee of Seminary property, was inadequate and were again requested to submit a statement in audited form.
Petitioners were informed on December 19 that a review team from the Education Department would visit the Seminary on December 20 to review its records. Following that visit, the Education Department and Regents committee recommended that the application be denied. The findings were that the Seminary had represented itself through brochures and transcripts as having degree-granting status, that the student records showed that some graduates had not completed the number of credits or courses represented by the Seminary to be required, that admissions requirements set up by the Seminary, such as submission of GRE scores, letters of recommendation, and undergraduate transcripts, had not been enforced and that no audited financial statement for the Unification Church had been submitted.
Petitioners were given the opportunity to respond to the committee report and submitted denials of and explanations for the perceived deficiencies, including oversight, program evolution and practical difficulties. The Board of Regents, at the January, 1978 meeting, again deferred action to allow the Education Department to consider petitioners' response. The Education Department and Regents committee issued a final report in February, which addressed issues disputed in petitioners' response, found the explanations inadequate to remove concern over the deficiencies and adhered to its recommendation for denial. At the February meeting of the board, that body voted unanimously to deny the application based on the findings and conclusions of the Regents committee reports.
Petitioners commenced the second article 78 proceeding challenging the determination as arbitrary on numerous grounds, including bias, administrative abuse and the application of imprecise standards. Respondents' motion for summary judgment was granted and the petition dismissed. Petitioners appealed this judgment and the judgment in the first article 78 proceeding to the Appellate Division, 75 A.D.2d 666, 426 N.Y.S.2d 849. That court affirmed both judgments, concluding that the delay in the decision was not unreasonable and that no constitutional rights had been violated by the investigation or determination. Petitioners were granted leave to appeal to this court.
Petitioners maintain that the Board of Regents determination should be annulled as arbitrary because it represents an abuse of the administrative process and the violation of petitioners' substantive and procedural rights, and because the statutes, rules and regulations under which the Board of Regents acted are unconstitutionally vague. Finally, petitioners urge that summary judgment was improper on this record. Their contentions are not persuasive.
It is well settled that in reviewing administrative action a court may not substitute its judgment for that of the agency responsible for making the determination, but must ascertain only whether there is a rational basis for the decision or whether it is arbitrary and capricious (see Matter of Pell v. Board of Educ., 34 N.Y.2d 222, 231, 232, 356 N.Y.S.2d 833, ...
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