Who Owns the News?

Private School Paper Asks Court to Restore Funding

Editor Axes Sports Page: Adviser Fired SPLC Report Staff Contents Richard Kaye High School...... 3 George Washington University Law School • Papers burned to protect writers Richard Keshian • First Junior High battle Duke University • Book banning ain't just in Boston • Contraception article censored (again) James Presnell • Gay ad, abortion articles cause controversy Friendswood (Texas) High School Current Events ...... 8

Copyright Update ...... 10 Student Press Law Center Guest columnist Jeffrey L. Squires examines the wire services' fight for rights to the news they cover. Executive Committee Resources ...... 10 Jeanne Buckeye Robert Knight Recent Court Decisions ...... 12 National SCholastic. Press Assn Missouri College Newspaper Assn Associated Collegiate Press Missouri Interscholastic Press Assn A compendium of cases involving student rights and Carol Ann Hall Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver student journalism Journalism Assn of Ohio Schools National Council 01 College Obscenity Guide ...... 14 Richard Johns Publications Advisers Quill and Scroll Society Legal Intern Rick Kaye defines and discusses ob­ scenity and court definitions of it • Obscenity vs. profanity Legal Advisory Committee • The three-pronged test Leon Letwin, Esq Supreme ...... Alan Levine, Esq Court Brief . . . 21

Robert Trager Teachers: Beware the Censor ...... 22

College ...... 23 Advisory Committee • b u exposure faces financial hardships • Community college paper censored by students Gloria Brown Anderson LouiS Ingelhart • Adviser fired for refusing to censor Women in Communicalions Jack Landau • Campus Blurbs makes its debut Abraham Bass Reporters Commilfee for Freedom of the Press Illinois Community College The Student Press Law Center JournaiJsm Assn Kay Lockridge Northern illinOIS School Press Assn Society 01 Professional JournalIsts The Student Press Law Center is the only national organiza­ John Butler Sigma Delta Chi tion devoted exclusively to protecting the FirSI Amendment Iowa Hign School Press ASSn C Marshall Matlock rights of high school and college journalists. The Center is a national legal aid agency providing legal assistance and infor­ James Crook Empire State Press Assn mation to student journalists and faculty advisers experi­ Tennessee High School Press Assn Jack Nelson encing censorship and other legal problems. James Davidson Los Angeles Times Nalional School Yearbook/ Charles O'Malley !!Jf!8PLC Report Newspaper ASSn Columbia Scholastic Press Assn S. Gale Denley Albert Scroggins SPLC Report, published three times each year by the Student Mississippi SCholaslic Press Assn Southern Interscholastic Press Assn Press Law center, summarizes current controversies involving student rights. SPLC Report is researched, written and pro­ Kenneth Devol Robert Skinner Assn for Education in Journatism The Newspaper Fund duced entirely by journalism and law student interns. The SPLC seeks student-produced drawings or photo­ William Fisher Stan Soffin graphs to illustrate the SPLC Report. Please send copies of Assn for Educallon in Journalism. Michigan Interscholastic Press Assn Law Division your materials to the SPLC office. Robert Tottingham ...... _ __. ... _--- Nancy Green Wisconsin Journatism Student Press Law Center Report, number 7, spring 1978, is Kentucky High School Press Assn Teacher/Adviser Council published by the Student Press Law Center, Suite 1112, 1750 David Hackett Craig Trygstad Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 347- Roberl F Kennedy Memorial Youth Communication 6888. Copyright © 1978, Student Press Law Center. All rights Mary Hartman Molly Wiseman reserved. Yearly subscriptions to the SPLC Report are $5.00 Oregon Schofastic Press Journalism Educalion Assn for student newspapers, $7.00 for individuals and organiza­ Ray Henry Robert Wylie tions. All other contributions are tax deductible. A subscrip­ Plus Publications Community College Journalism Assn tion order form appears on page 31. ------_... - -.------.�-.-�------.--�---- Barbara Hines Lesley Lee Zimic The Student Press Law Center is pleased to announce the ad­ Maryland Scholastic Press American Assn of dition of a new co-director. Michael D. Simpson, who started Advisers Assn University Professors in January, is a cum laude graduate of the University of Geor­ gia School of Law, and an honors graduate of Davidson Col­ lege. He served on the Senior Editorial Board of the Georgia Co-Directors Journal of International and Comparative Law. Before join­ Christopher Fager ing SPLC, Mike worked for legal services programs represent­ Michael Simpson ing indigent persons in Georgia and recently in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the federal bar as well as the Georgia and District of Columbia bar associations.

-----._------2 SPLC Report Spring 1978 � �High School _� .------JUNIOR HIGH

Middle School Fights Prior Review .. .. --_ _------_.-.,_ . .... --_ .. _. - ...... _, .__ . .. __ ...... - -_ ...... _ _ Guidelines Protested by 11- to 14-Year-Olds

The Tenafly (New Jersey) School Action on the proposed guide- Board has "delayed indefinitely" lines was not as swift or resolute, plans to enact publication guide- however. Advisers and editors at lines proposed last October which Tenafly High School submitted a would h ave severely restricted stu- statement on December J 4 to the dent press rights at Tenafly High Board of Education express ng their i School and Tenafly Middle School. dismay at the new guidelines. Men- Immediately after the proposed lioned in this letter was legal re- guidelines were announced in Octo- search in progress at the Student ber Principal Robert Smith of the Press Law Center and the American Middle School notified Tiger Tales Civil Liberties Union regarding the guidelines. advisers Dione Danis and Catherine Miggins that aJl copy would be sub- A legaJ opinion leUer written by mitted to him prior to publication. SPLC attorney Mike Simpson which stated that many of the pro- The staff, who at II Tiger Tales posed guidelines were unconstitu- to 14 are one of the youngest staffs tional was circulated to school to decided face this dilemma, to officials. cease publication rather than sub- Since then the SPLC has been in mit the copy for approval. The staff contact with school board member did not publish a newspaper for Marjorie Osborn and has learned three months. that action on "Proposed Guide- With the help of a local attorney. lines for Student Publications" has the ACLU. the local teacher's asso- been removed entirely f o the r m eiation, and the Student Press Law board's agenda. Ms. Osborn says of

Center. Miggins and Danis were fi- the guidelines , "I think (the issue) nally able to persuade Principal Pholo�y Londa Schwarn just may die a normal death." Smith to permit uncensored publi- Will Captive Voices have to be For the last three months the cation of the paper until the guide- rewritten when Junior High School Tiger Tales has been published . lines were approved or amended by students join the battle for First without prior approval by the Tenafly's school board. t h pr e g i I ..m ______A::_�n dm n ri ���� ______. _ __ __S_ C__O_O _ 1 _ :�� .�.��_O______. ___

Principal Censors to 'Protect' Students

Last December one thousand cop­ said "Voice 0 f the St uden ts. " under the veil of " T h e Movement". ies of the Dunedin (Florida) High Principal Freeman feared that the Michael Szymanski, one of the

School student news ape , The PIp­ articles might anger members of wrilers, was nearly hit by a truck p r at a er, were destroyed by Principal Fran­ " The Movement". "We've had some neighborhood shopping mall soon af­ cis Freeman because he feared two incidents, mostly off campus. that ter the articles were wriHen. He {old "guest editorials" would cause more have been kind of frightening. In my police that he believed the incident (0 problems with a student group that opinion, the (articles] just added fuel be directly related to threatening calls itself " The Movement. " to Ihe fire." nOles and vandalism directed at stu­ The paper had been printed and The articles in qu tion were dents on Ihe "showdown" list. es was ready for distribution when Free­ written by two of nine students whose Szymanski's article defended man ordered the copies deslroyed and names appear on a "showdown" Jist allowing several students to take {he paper reprinted with a blank issued by "The Movement". The pictures for the yearbook in costumes space where the editorials would ha e nine a e been targets of harassing v h v appeared, under a headline which phone calls and threatening notes see page 4

Spring 1978 SP LC Report 3 Principal Censors continued from page 3 from a homecoming skit called "The Coneheads". "The Movement" has indicated in its correspondence with various students that the actors in the skit were receiving too many special privileges. Szymanski said the articles should have been run because local newspa­ pers have carried accounts of "The Movement" while the school paper has not mentioned the incidents. Tim McBride. the other writer in­ volved, said. "Some people have told us that because we're underage we have no rights. It just seems wrong that he can censor something like that. .. Editors Mary Rosina and Liane Anderson said Freeman notified them that he was burning the paper. and they convinced him to have it reprinted. Freeman said the $108 printing cost would come from a school fund or "my own pocket if insinuating that "The Movement or times in the judgment of people that necessary. ,. whoever they are have power." things are better left unsaid. This is Rosina and Anderson (whose name Sondra Cain. The Piper 's adviser, one of those times." had appeared on the list) said they took the articles to County School The editors, who had been in received a note saying "something Superintendent Gus Sakkis, who con­ disagreement on whether to print the would happen" if any articles by or cluded that "neither would help" arlieles. decided not to press the about students on the "showdown" stop students from being harassed matter when Freeman vetoed the list appeared in The Piper. and upheld the principal's decision. articles. The Christmas edition of The Rosina criticized the principal's "We don't have censorship in Pinel­ Piper was reprinted and distributed as action, sayin� dropping the articles is las County," Sakkis said. "There are planned. 0

Book Ban Effort Fails in Md. "For quite awhile after reading Grendel, by John Gard­ Jean Silvius, one of the parents , said that Grendel, writ­ ner) Betty Nichols of Frederick County, Md., could not ten from the monster's point of view , is "anti-Christian, stomach ketchup, . . ... began a March article in The antimoral, full of vulgarity," including references to Washington Star detailing Middletown (Maryland) High "dead-stick gods" and "base descriptive passages" about School's book banning controversy which was initiated in the monster's sexual habits and bodily functions. January. Concerned Citizens' protest was slowed. but not stopped, by a school board ruling in support of he school The article continued with Mrs. Nichols' statement that t superintendent's decision to keep the books in the curricu­ she "wondered why" she could not eat her former favorite lum but offer an "alternative" book for students who do condiment but then realized that it reminded her "of all not wish to read Grendel. They say they will appeaJ to the those bloody battle scenes in Grendel." State Board of Education as soon as possible. Grendel, a modernization ish of the Engl classic Concerned Citizens is now examining the entire school Beowulf, brunt was the of criticism at Middletown as Con­ curriculum for offensive materials. They criticize the cerned Citizens. a group of 40 or 160 local parents (the school's Jlse of too many books with "negative attitudes," school's estimate of the group's strength was quite dif­ such as John Steinbeck's The Pearl. "Our children are ferent from their own) filed complaints with the school being brainwashed." said spokeswoman Betty Nichols, board in an unsuccessful attempt to have Grendel and "You are what you read. A child's mind is malleable . If another book they considered offensive banned from the these negative books have not warped their minds, they school. have at least confused them." 0

4 SPLC Report Spring 1978 _ ljjgh _S9nOo[ ______�.. _. ___.______

Publication Left to Students' Discretion Principal Allows Contraception Article

Students at Ardsley High School met nevertheless. concluding after all Iher editors." The articles in question (New York) are involved in a censor­ that they did not have power to deny were printed alongside an editorial on ship battle with their adviser and publication of the article, because of the controversy in the March 1978 is­ school administrators over an article ambiguities in Ardsley's current pub­ sue of the Panther. and editorial about contraception. lication policy. Ms. Grenier and the editors are

This struggle is part of an ongoing Principal Figlia then wrote a letter planning a meeting with the School contest with the administration for to the editors which stated. "Publica­ Board to debate the still nebulous and editorial control of the paper. Thom­ tion of the article that was in dispute "unacceptable" publications pol­ as Levine and Steven Mendelson, is now left to your discretion as Pan- icy. 0 editors of Ardsley's Panther, dis­ covered what they termed an "alarm­ ing trend in the publication policy of Students Get Publicity the administration" who appeared to be "vying for complete editorial con­ trol of the Panther." Gay Ad Stopped in Va. The editors met with Principal Fig­ lia and Vice Principal Gordon in De­ Last December a faculty adviser ceived would prevent any future cen­ cember 1977 to discuss publication blocked Fairfax County Va. high sorship. school students from printing an However, the students are still be­ policies for the remainder of the ing harrassed by the administration. school year. They were told that they ad vertisement submitted by a bookstore for homosexuals that Recently students were prohibited could write about certain school invited "gay teens and friends" to problems as long as they did not visit the store. "create waves". "I think it is inappropriate for high When the editors decided to pub­ school-age kids." Ms. Hud Clark, lish a factual article and editorial on adviser of the Saxon Scope (Langley the problems of deficient sex educa­ High School's student newspaper) tion, ignorance about contraception, stated. and teenage pregnancy, the adviser Lauren Simon, editor 0 f the Scope, refused to allow printing of the arti­ felt' differently: "The censorship of cle. The administration forbade the information from others depends on printing of either the article or the ed­ a moral decision, unique to every BOOKS itorial. They suggested that the paper person, and it is wrong for Ms. Clark MAGAZINES talk about abstinence as a birth con­ to expose in the school newspaper GIFTS trol method rather than contracep­ only that information which she feels for 'gaymen and lesbians, tion. is appropriate," Simon wrote in an their famil� A student-faculty review board editorial for the paper. She added. and friends.. "The issue is not the gay bookstore was created to determine whether or Celebrate the gay&perienoe anymore-the issue now is not the articles would be published. freedom at of the press and censorship." Editors Levine and Mendelson con­ Lzlmbda Rising Simon said that the majority of tacted the Student Press Law Center 20t2 s Sl�. NW. twenty-eight students on the newspa­ at this time and were referred to Mary Wa�hin�(tO. DC per's staff favored printing the adver­ 462-6969 Ann Grenier. a youth advocate with tisement. Nevertheless, when Lauren the Westchester N. Y. Civil Liberties Simon appealed the decision to prin­ Union. Ms. Grenier advised them cipal Thomas J. Cabelius, Jr. and This ad was censored that a review board like the one set up Division Superintendent S. lohn by the paper's adviser at Ardsley was illegal and clearly Davis they supported the adviser's violated the First Amendment ights r decision. from reporting on an incident of of the students. After receiving major newspaper cookie-baking with illicit drugs, in­ Levine and Mendelson advised the publicity, the students decided not to duding marijuana, in the school's board that the Panther could not ac­ take the case to court because of the home economics course and the sub­ cept a decision from them because of time and money involved. They sequent hospitalization of the teacher their questionable legality. The board thought that the publicity they re - involved. D

Spring 1978 SPLC Report 5 . . . ----_.... _-_.- .._-_ •...• -_... _- -_._--_ .._.- ---_._..... _._._ .... _-_._-_._---_.. _._. ..- --- .. .._ _ ..• _ ---_._.-._-_...... -----_ . -._-----_ .. _---_... _ _

Illegitimate Births High Clinic Ad Refused by Florida Papers

.... _------An abortion referral and coun· ------_ seling service was refused advertising space in two Brevard County (Florida) high school newspapers in December. Parent calls to school officials at one school and a staff decision not to run the ad at another prevented the Aware Woman Clinic, Inc. from placing advertising in the papers. The clinic had sought to place Ihe following ad in Cocoa Beach High School's Potpourri and Meritt Island High's newspaper: "Learn about your body. We offer health care, informalion, counseling and referral. Evening clinics available to meel your needs. All information is slriclly con­ fidential. Call 783-4220 10 lalk to someone who cares. Aware Woman Clinic, Inc., 82 N. Orlando Ave.,

Cocoa Beach .• , Meritt Island High School Prin­ cipal Robert Brulon decided to stop Ihe newspaper from running the ad because he had received "numbers of calls" from parents. "The schools have enough problems Wilhoul get­ ling a 101 of calls from parents," Bruton said. "Our newspaper is not supposed to create cont roversy." Among those who called Ihe school was Ted Gauvin, local advertising executive and member of Ihe group "Right 10 Life," who later said of the ad, " ... Ihere is nothing in the First Alllendment when it comes to killing babies. We believe that by working in our cause we are preventing people from killing olher people and that has nothing 10 do with Constitutional rights. "

Parent Sandra Allington also �U(� lane In Ihe Bi3ltrmoreEvenmg Sun called, saying that if the school paper ran the ad it would be "Iantamounl ten by the Aware Woman Clinic and The Aware Woman Clinic declined to endorsing the clinic." A iocal the olher by members of the anti­ to bring suil against eilher high newspaper later pointed oUI that 167 abortion group "Right to Life." The school because of the cost and lime illegitimate babies were born to ami-abortionists, however. later re­ thaI would be involved. Director teenage mothers in Brevard County refused to submit an article . Patricia Windle said that Ihe parents' during the firsl ten months of 1977. Group member Gret chen Craig pressure was simply another attempt FOrly·five of those mOlhers were said of the controversy, "The abor­ by a handful of citizens to drive her between the ages of 13 and 15. tionislS are so emotional and they out of business . and that the abortion The staff of Cocoa Beach High ' s have no facts on their side." The staff opponents had been "trying to deny Potpourri had voted not to run the ad decided Ihat rather Ihan find another our right to provide a service by every but to run a pro-and-con section on anti-abortion writer they would drop means possible," alluding 10 lough abortion. One arlicle was 10 hp writ- the article idea enlirely . city regulations. :J

...... _------.-...... _--- 6 SPLC Report Spring 1978 Principal Reprimanded Papers Burned to Suppress Editorial

On January 25, 1978, the Linden quest, Pancurak said, and when she interference with the First Amend­ (New Jersey) Board of Education re­ went to the office to discuss placing ment rights of students would not be primanded high school principal Her­ an insert in the issue, she was in­ tolerated, and that "Mere possibility man Mopsick. Mopsick had ordered formed that the papers had "already of difficulty or t he start of an argu­ the October issue of Linden High's been destroyed." Mopsick then ment is not enough to overcome the Chronicle burned because of an edi­ threatened to take away Pancurak's right to freedom of expression .... torial he had not approved. editorship and called her a "radical." The principal's decision to destroy Jackie Goldberg and Lauren Pan­ Mopsick has been quoted as saying the papers was completely unjustified curak, editors of the newspaper, had that the board is using the issue as "a and without any redeeming merit filed a complaint with the school set-up to embarrass me," and whatsoever. .. board that Principal Mopsick viola­ claimed he did not order the papers In reference to Mopsick the board ted their First Amendment rights by burned but had simply told the said, "The principal of Linden High ordering the papers burned. janitor to destroy them. School, Herman E. Mopsick, is here­ After students appeared before the In a formal resolution adopted by by reprimanded for his abuse of dis­ board, the school district's attorney the Linden School Board, it was cretion in interfering with the dissem­ began an investigation into Mopsick 's found that the paper was destroyed at ination of the Chronicle, by which act action. The investigation revealed Mopsick's order and of his own ac­ the board believes he interfered with that the principal had ordered a jani­ cord, contrary to his prior allegations the constitutional rights of the entire tor to destroy 750 copies of the Lin­ of student assent. In its resolution the student body of Linden High den High Ch ronicle and later claimed Board stated that this type of illegal School." 0 that students were involved in the de­ cision to destroy the papers. In the course of the burning Mr. Koltun, the janitor involved, suffered burns on his lower leg from an incin­ Student Newspaper Seized erator flashback and was hospitalized briefly. Mopsick prevented distribution of At Wisconsin High School the paper because of an editorial he Administrators at Loyal (Wiscon­ member Lois Aumann questioned the called "libelous," according to edi­ sin) High School confiscated the No­ need for an office aide because of tors Goldberg and Pancurak. The ed­ many complaints she had received itorial dealt with a takeover of the vember issue of the student newspa­ per Hound in an effort about the secretaries using their time high school football stadium's re­ Happennings to censor a report on the school for personal activities." freshment stand by the Police Athlet­ board's recent meeting. ic League after the school's Booster The newspaper was retyped cour­ Club failed to show sufficient inter­ The controversial article concerned tesy the administration but was five est. According to Mopsick, the issue approval by the Loyal Board of Edu­ hours behind schedule and typed un­ had already been resolved and to re­ cation of hiring an aide to assist the satisfactorily. When Lindner told lease the editorial would have been school's secretaries with office duties. Schober that typing would have to be "in bad faith." He also directed Following a conversation with one done correctly because of the paper's Goldberg to not get involved in board member who did not think the wide distribution, Schober said, "community affairs." aide was needed because "a number "Then you better not send it out this In an open letter to the Ch ronicle, of people had told her that the two month. " Mopsick alleged that it was the com­ secretaries spend much of their time As a result of this incident the bined decision of the editorial board, filing their nails and carrying on per­ newspaper staff threatened the ad­ the adviser and himself to destroy the sonal telephone conversations," ministration with legal action. but papers. However, both Goldberg and Editor Tom Lindner wrote a report dropped plans to litigate when new Pancurak contend that they were not on the meeting and its implications. publication guidelines were accepted. consulted and were not aware of the Administrator Ralph R. Schober Under the new proposal the censored burning of the papers until ten days confiscated the paper prior to distri­ article would have been printed. The after the burning occurred on Octo­ bution and informed Lindner that guidelines specify that the degree of ber 21. The papers had been taken to one sentence in his article would not control the administration has over Mopsick's office for storage at his re- be printed. The sentence was, "Board the paper is limited. 0

--_._- _. ----•..._. __ ...... _ ..._ .. __.. __ .. _._ ..•..... _._------...._ ...... - _ ..... _. __ ._. _-- Spring 1978 SPLC Report 7 Who's That New Kid?

Fairfax County (Virginia) police In recent years there has been no and school officials announced in drastic increase in drug use among March that undercover policemen students; survey results show that are bei ng enrolled in area high drug overdose deaths are down 39 schools where the authorities deter­ percent from 1976. The Fairfax mine that conventional drug en­ County Unified Schools, however, forcement techniques are failing 10 are using undercover agents as part stop drug traffic. of a new "drug prevention" pro­ A new section of the SPLC The officers. whom police said gram which will teach students the Report designed to keep stu­ look young enough to pass for stu­ pitfalls of drug use in class while dent journalists abreast of de­ dents. are enrolled as a "last re­ imposing strict penalties for posses­ velopments affecting them sort," according to an announce­ sion or dist ribution of drugs on ment made jointly by the school school property. and their fellow students. system and police. Police guidelines for the program indicate that the agents "will not be used for the su rveillance of individ­ ual students or student activities" Today's Teens Not As other than those the police consider to be "drug related." Smart As You'd Think Northern Virginia Civil Liberties Union chairwoman Lauren Selden Today's teenager, supposedly the ago-even in an era of seemingLy said. "The greatest effect it will best educated and best informed heightened American political per­ have is that it will t urn off students in American history. was recently ceptions. to the law. It will teach them the found to be sadly lacking in politi­ "Political knowledge and atti­ government can use young people cal knowledge. tudes are not acquired solely to keep watch on other young peo­ Most teenagers can name the through the academic process," pie ." The ACLU also called the U.S. President. but after that their said Marie Eldridge, administrator action "appalling" and "outrage· ous". knowledge and understanding of of the National Center for Educa­ their government falls off drastic­ tion Statistics. "The media, the Colonel Richard A. King, Coun­ ally. community and Ihe family can cer­ ty Police Chief. stated that the un· Fewer than half can name one of tainly be credited with substantial dercover agents cannot stop drug

their senators or their representative influence. OJ abuse single-handedly and that po­ in the House. About a third do not The NAEP conducts annual lice must depend on students who know that a senator is elected. surveys nationwide to test student do not use drugs to turn in those More distressingLy. over a third performance in basic academic who do. He said there was nothing do not believe a newspaper sho uld areas and to measure change over dishonorable about students who be allowed to publish criticism of time. act as informants to help police ar­ elected officials. A fourth do not Results announced on Febru­ rest drug users: "If we didn't spy know that the Senate is a part of ary I were the product of tests occasionally. we might not have the Congress. A third do not know that carried out in 1976 and 1977 among democracy we have today," King the Constitution guarantees their selected 17- and 13-year·old stu­ said. civil rights. dents. Dr. J. E. Manning, a principal in These and other findings were Roy E. Forbes, NAEP director, the county, said that he had spo tted reported on February I, 1978 by [he saw "a few bright spots" in the test . a trend among students to use drugs federal government's National For example. student support for on school property. "My impres· Assessment of Education Progress. constitutional rights stayed at about sion is that they think nothing will a nationwide testing project. the same level . Improved scores happen to them . They seem to NAEP officials said that the lat­ were evident on questions reflecting smok.e marijUana or hashish like est testing of 145,000 teenagers concern for others' rights, especial­ kids 20 years ago used to smoke a shows a decline from six years ly those of minorities. 0 cigarette." D

.._ .. -.. _ .... _-_...... _--_ ...... -_ ._-_...... _- --- 8 SPLC Report Spring 1978 Current Events

Enrollment Increase Journalism Schools Getting Crowded

Journalism student enrollment in The repOI1 tends to support earli­ classroom overloads and limited United States colleges and universi­ er predictions that journalism will facilities. ties reached a r�ord high of 65,962 continue to aUract college student In individual school enrollments, this school year, according to a re­ interest, despite reports that job the leading schools and depart­ Journalism port appearing in Edu­ opportunities in journalism and its ments are the University of Texas at cator, quarterly journal of the relaled fields have increased at a Austin with 2,681 journalism Association for Education in Jour­ slower pace. majors. Syracuse University with nalism. Professor William 1. Roepke, 2,002, and Boston University with This represents a 2.26aJo increase editor of Journalism Educator, 1,550. 0 over the 1976-77 school year, which believes that the high inlerest in was described as a "leveling off" journalism education reflects a shift year in journalism enrollment. of interest among college students However, the prescnl figure is a from liberal arts studies toward 170aJo increase over 10 years ago career-oriented fields such as Students when 24,445 students claimed journalism. journalism as their college major. Other factors cited by Roepke in­ Regain According to the report wriHen cluded the increased interest in mass by Professor Paul V. Peterson of media studies in the nation's high Ohio State University, a journalism schools and the general public's Washington student is one who is enrolled in a heightened awareness of the mass recognized four-year college or media's role in exposing govern­ Policy Voice university offering a formal jour­ ment ineptitude, an awareness that nalism major program. Depending reached ils- peak during the Water­ David Patterson, a recent grad­ upon the school's program, a stu­ gate years. uate of University of California at dent could be concentrating in Peterson believes that enroll­ Los Angeles, became the first per­ news-editorial journalism, advertis­ ments probably would have been son to fill the newly created posj� ing, broadcast journalism, public much higher Ihis year if a number tion of "Student Liaison" to the relations, magazine journalism or of schools had not limited student Office of Education. Appointed by other areas of emphasis. admissions last fall because of the U.S. Commissioner of Educa­ tion Ernest L. Boyer, Mr. Patterson began his duties in September 1977. �Press'Four-Letter Word in Illinois The position of Student Liaison was created to bridge Ihe gap be­ According to James Nyka, jour� percent "no" to the Question: "Do tween students and the OE, with a nalism teacher at Proviso East High you believe that First Amendment major thrust toward student finan­ School, high school Sludents in Illi­ rights to freedom of expression are cial assistance. nois still have limited amounts of the same under the law for high The liaison's major link to stu­ journalistic freedom. This is tfue school and professional journal� dents is through various state stu­ despite court decisions supporting ists?" dent associations. student press rights. Concerning "controversial" top­ Every six months (he posi(ion is Nyka, who recently surveyed 121 ics. the administrators and advisers to be refilled by a differenl student lJIinois high schools with student indicated their strongest objections to provide for the circulation of populations of more than 1,000 10 students covering such topics as new ideas. On March 13 of this said, "Many newspaper advisers gay liberation, criticism of the prin­ year, Howard McGee took o:ver the and administrators appear either cipal and administration, birth con­ position. unaware of students' constitution­ trol and abortion, and facuIty The office of Youth and Student ally protected rights, or have simply unions. Affairs used to exist in the OE, but chosen to ignore them, hoping that Forly-one percent said "yes" was abolished in 1970. The Student the legal pendulum will swing the when asked, "Do you feel that the Liaison position was formed as a re­ i other way." special circumstances of public high placement of this office. Forty percent of the respondents schools make it necessary for prin­ The objective of the Student said material considered ILcontro� cipals 10 restrict distribution of ma­ Liaison Office is to provide a means versial" does not escape the atten� terial which focuses on matters thai by which students can have input tion of administrators. may be sensitive in the com­ into policy decisions at (he forma­ 'l Fifty percent said "yes" and 37 munity?" 0 tive s(age. 0

_ _ . __ .. _ .... ,' ,._------.. . ---,_ .. _ ... _ _ .... _ " -... -.------�.�-- � ------...-.-- .... - ...---- . --_ .._. _...... __._-_. _ _ . __ ._-- . Sprin'g 1978 SPLC Report 9 Sixty years ago the United States Supreme Court was asked to decide whether the Associate Press had an exclu­ Who Owns sive right in the current news it gathered and made availa­ ble to its member newspapers. A majori ty of t he Coun said it had such a right ; the right of one in business to pre­ The News? vent competitors from appropriating commercially valua­ ble material. without payment or permission, could be as­ serted to prevent a competitor from copying current news. The case of International News Service Associated v. by Jeffrey L. Squires Press has since been the fo undation for recognit ion of a limited protectio n against the misappropriation of val­ uable commercial property, even property as ephemeral as the content of the d aily news. Dissenting from the decision in International News Service, JUSlice Brandeis concluded that, although "t he propriety of some remedy" for the misappropriation and competing distribution of news gathered at considerable expense " appears to be clear," this was one of a group of wrongs t hat judges ought not right . He fo und no existi ng legal principle arisi ng from either legislati ve enactment or past judicial decisions that barred the " piracy" of published news, and argued that the courts should not assume responsibility, wit houl guidance from the legislature, to regulate an area so suffused with consi­ derations of the public interest as the gat hering and d istri­ bution of t he news. The majority decision in Jn lernaliona/ News Service has received mixed reviews. The idea that anyone could assert ownersh ip of commercial interest in the unfo ldi ng pages a of history reponed by the journalists and broadcasters of the day has not been warmly greeted by lawmakers and j udges. The force of Justice Brandeis' warn ing has been persuasive to many courts asked to forbid mis­ appropriation of valuable information where no other legal right was violated . As a resull , questions concerning ownership of the news are still unanswered . Copyright is a prolection for the authors' creative contr­ ibution of st yle and expression impressed upon a presentation of ideas. Paradoxicall y, it is Congress' recent revision of the law of copyright-which both the majority

Youth News to be Recorded

A new publication, Yo uth News of the Folger Shakespeare Li brary, & Record, a newspaper written and O. B. Hardison , Jr.; former assis­ published for junior high school age tant Secretary of H.E.W. , the Hon. students, was Slarted in February Shana Gordon; and Paul Hume, 1978 and is available as a supple­ music critic. ment to Sunday newspapers. YN&R is published by The Child­ In ad dition to international. na­ ren's Newspaper and Youth News. tional, and local news, the periodic­ Inc., 1721 De Sales Street N.W., al contains special features, some Washington, D.C. 20036, and will written by young people them­ carry publisher-selected and -ap­ selves, co mpeti tions, personalit y proved advenising. pro fi les, a quiz corner and a space Co-publisher Pauline Innis is a serial. There is also a section for former president of th e American yo unger children . Newspaper Women 's Club and of The list of advisers includes as­ the Children's Book Guild. She is tronaut Michael Collins; Director t he author of ten books. n

------_._._ .... _...... _------_._ .. -

10 SPLC Report Spring 1978 ------_.__ _------. and dissenting judges in In rernaliona/ Ne ws Service agreed factual situations like that presented in International News could provide no basis for assertil)g exclusive rights in t he Service. Final amendments to the bill, however. afler the factual content news-that has again addressed the issue of legislative history had been written, deleted references to whe[her anyone could claim exclusive rights to the news "misappropriation" as a right stat es can continue to and may have redefined the nature of those rights. It seems enforce irrespective of the copyright law. What does that a good time-with the great importance attached to any mean in terms of legal rights to the news? NewspaPers and actual or threatened concrol of the news, in a society more broadcasters. as well as major news agencies like the and more dependent on a rapid tlow of information to Associated Press , invest considerable sums o f money in define its political , social and economic relationships-to finding and reporting the news . Will t hey continue to claim review when and whether we should t reat the news as rights to that news, and prevent their competitors from someone ' s private property. taking a fr ee ride on their efforts? And what dist inctions The new copyright law draws allention to the constitu­ will be made between the content of the news and the form tional limitation on any sway copyright might hold over in which it is expressed, when published in newspapers or the fact ual content of the news. Section I02(b) of that law broadcast by radio o r television? provides that ''In no case does copyright extend to any No one knows for sure the answers . But a guess is that ,

idea, procedure, process, system . _ ", etc., and it is well while courts may continue to recognize the right of a news . understood that this means copyright yields no rights in the agency or commercial publisher to prevent competitors facts making up the news. As Justice Brandeis put it in from copying news "hot off the wire" for competitive International News Service, "The general rule of law is, commercial exploitation, no fu rther possessory interest in that the noblest of human productions-knowledge, trut hs the news would be allowed . Much news appears contained ascertained, concept ions, and ideas-become, after in articles or taped broadcasts, the outright piratical volUntary communication to others, free as the air to duplication of which may subject the unauthorized copyist com mon use." The exceptions to this rule reneet policy to penalties under the law of copyright. Those who judgments of the Congress intended to encourage creat ive produce the published fo rms and programming formats in and inventive activities, by grants of copyright and patent. which the news appears will likely be forced to rely on Neither patent nor copyright, however, is a source of copyright as the source of any rights they may have in their exclusive rights in the facts that make up the daily record presentation of the news. As a practical maller, resort to of events. state laws protecting private interests in the news may be The new law also considers the relationship of federal rare. copyright and state laws, such as the law of misap­ The overriding interest in free access to knowledge of propriation relied upon by the majority in International t he events of the day, at the heart of our system of News Service. A major shift in the new copyright law is government and embedded securely in the First Amend­

effected by a provision "preempting" the use of state law ment , would seem to demand that any claim to ownership to protect works potentially protected by copyright: of the facts making up the news be very carefu lly limited; owners of works of any nalUre eligible for copyright can and those whose commercial existence depends upon no longer claim the protection of state law to prevent the exploiting the news might not be eager to re ly on a manner copying of their works. To encourage a uniform ap­ of legal protection that places them on a possible collision plication of law, only the protection afforded under course with freedom 0 f the press. 0 federal co py igh t law will be available to those who publ sh r i and distribute written information in tangible copies. Jeffrey Squires is an attorney practicing in the DistriCT of A puzzle remains. The legislat ive history of the new law Columbia and an adjunct professor of law at the American says that states can continue to grant relief for the piracy University. Th is is the second article he has writ/en for of news ga�thered in the cause of commercial activities in SPLC REPORT on the subject of copyright. Student Press Service

1015 20th St . NW • Washington. DC 20036 (202) 293-2872 • -­ - S SPS is a student run news service providing i-h-e-h-j -gh-S -C -h -o -o-I -p-re-s-s-w--,'th information on issues that concern their readers

Our month ly news packets, press releases, and Yes. Enter my subscription to the Student Press our resource center cover such topics as: Service. Here is $9 .00 for the next ten issues.

Youth Unemployment ----_ _ _ _-_ . . - ...... Financial Aid NAME iplease 'p"nl) Student Rights - -. -- ..-.--.-�-.. ------D D-RE-S S - .. . ..---- Alternative Learning Experiences A Youth Participation Colleges

This information is available to you. A national resource for the high school press ------

------. ------. - Spring 1978 SPLC Report 11 Leibner v. Sharbaugh, 429 F. Supp. 744 (E.D. Va. 1977). A feder­ al District Court has ruled unconsti­ tutional the suspension of a public high school student for distribution of an underground newspaper Recent which attacked certain racial minor­ ities. The student had been sus­ ' pended because he distributed the paper in violation of the principal's COllrt order not to, because he failed to identify the writers of the paperand because "the newspaper was of Decisions questionable taste, decency. and journalistic standards." Involvin Hi h TheCourt ruled that regulations g g under which the student was sus­ School Students pended were too vague because no terms were defined. The provisions East Hartford Education Assn. teaching of Transcendental Medita­ concerning prior review were also Boord of Education , 46 tion in public schools. The Court defect ive because the appeals pro­ v. U.S.L.W. 2135 (1977). The Second held that since TM is a form of re­ cess would take toO long (2 weeks) Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled ligion. it may not be taught i[l a and no provision was made assuring that a public school teacher does state-supported school. the right of the student to present not have the First Amendment right his or her side of the issue. to refuse to wear a necktie in viola­ The United States Supreme Court tion of a school board dress code. Hernandez Hanson, C.A. No. has decided not to review the case v. The Court rejected the claim that 75-0-14, D. Neb. Apri.l25 , 1977 . A Trachtman v. Anker, in which the the teacher's refusal to wear a neck­ Nebraska Federal District Court Second Circuit Court of Appeals tie is "symbolic speech" protected has declared unconstitutional an held that high school officials may by the First Amendment . The Court Omaha publicschool rule which re­ lawfully prohibit a student from reasoned that the school board's in­ qui.red prior review of content of conducting a poll of the sexual terest in promot ing respect for non-school literature to be distri­ attitudes of fel low students. (See authority, traditional values and buted to students and prohibited SPLC Reporl 6) discipline outweighed the teacher's entirely distribution of material . The students had requested the claim of free expression. which is "commercial in nature". high court to review the Second Cir­ cuit's decision. The denial of certio­ The Court stated I "the outright Johnson Hunting/on Beach v. rari does not mean that the prohibition of commercial liter­ Un ion High Sch ool District, 137 Supreme Court agrees with or af­ ature is inconsistent with the First Cal. Rptr. 43 (Ct . App., 1977). A firms the Tr achtman decision. Amendment." However, the Court California appelate court has ruled Rather, the holding is limited to the upheld a ban on the distribution of that high school officials may con­ states within the Second Circuit : religious literature. stitutionally deny official recogni­ New York , Connecticut and Ver­ tion to a Bible study group. The Mc Call Fl orida , 46 U.S.L.W. mont . v. Court held that the school can deny 2408 (t978). Florida Supreme Court the religious group the use of bulle­ has struck down a Florida statute Schulze Coykendall. 545 P.2d tin boards and similar facilities for v. making it a misdemeanor to "up­ the posting of club act ivities, the 392, 218 Kan. 653 (S. Ct., Kan., braid, abuse, or insult" any mem­ use of school classrooms for club 1976). The Kansas Supreme Court ber of an "instructional staff on meetings and access to the school has ruled that in order for an ele­ school property or in (the] presence newspaper for purposes of publiciz­ mentary school principal to win a li­ of pupils at school act ivity." In re­ ing club events. The Court reasoned bel suit. he must prove that the al­ versing the conviction of a parent that to permit the Bible study club legedly libelous statement was false who had verbally altacked a teacher to operateon campus would consti­ and made with malice. The princi­ in front of 50 students for striking tute impermissable government pal had sued a citizen who had com­ her daughter. the Court said the support of religion . plained to the Board of Education. statute violates the First Amend­ The Court said that because of the ment right of freedom of speech. Malnak Yog i, 46 U.S.L.W. public interest in school mailers, a v. The Court noted that the statute 2244 (1977). A Fed eral District complaint about the qualifications co uld be used to punish harmless Court in New Jersey has ruled that of a public school teacher enjoys a expression. the First Amendment prohibits the conditional privilege. 0

______. __. ... L- . ------.-...1

- _... __ ..._ ... _ ..._-_._----_ . " ...... -.. _ --- ...... __ ... _-----_ .... _---_ _ _. _------_._ - . ------. ... _ ... . 12 SPLC Report Spring 1978 ,----I ------_.__ .

i c:.r���!i;�!?h� �s�� � �en�n�n�l���or Law .t lhe un;ve

(Ore. App _. 1976)_ An Oregon ap­ .- -- -:------�" pellate court has upheld the convic­ /

tions fo r cri minal tres pass of / -- several Portland State University students who had protested the use of non-union lettuce in the student cafeter ia . The students had set up tents on the library lawn. passed out leaflets, talked to passers-by and collected signatures on petitions. The Court held that the activities of handing out leaflets. speaking to passers-by and collecting signatures was "speech" protected by the First Amendment. However. the First Amendment did not authorize the erection of a tent on the library lawn_

Aumiller v. Un iversily oj Dela­ ware . 46 U.S.L.W. 20 18 (1 977). A Federal District Co urt in Delaware has declared unconstitutional the decision of a state university not to renew the contract of a teacher be­ cause of his statements on homo­ sexuality appearing in th ree news­ paper articles. The articles i(lenti­ fied him as a faculty member and adviser to a campus homosexual Of­ ganization. The Court held that to refuse to rehire the teacher because of the statements would infringe his constitutional right to free dom of expression. The Court stated: "The decision not to renew his co ntract because of the public statements contravenes the most basic teach-

Spring 1978 SPLC Report 13 OBSCENITY:AN SPCC"[EGALi

o .c:'0 "­

ii: :>

Nelson Rockefeller gestures to student demonstrators. This gesture and its implied meaning are not obscene. See story below.

The Un ited Slates Supreme Court hasfr equently stated Supreme COUrl . Justice Harlan, writing for the majority. that the First Amendment does not give citizens the abso­ pointed to the political nature of Cohen's expression and lute righ t to say or write anything they wish. Th e govern ­ emphasized that the government cannot "forbid particular ment has the power to prohibit certain types ofspe ech. words without also running a su bstant ial risk of " Obscen ity is the category of speech which local govern­ suppressing ideas in the process. Harlan also said . " Sure­ ments most oft en seek to suppress . The result has been ly the State has no right to cleanse public debate to the counIless court cases strug- po;nt where it is grammatically gling to precisely define what palatable to the most squeam­ is obscene. ish among us .... while the Th is area of the la w is im­ particu lar four-letter word be­ porlant 10 STUdent journalis ts ing litigated here is perhaps because obscenity is one type Obscenity: more distasteful than most of sp eech wh ich may be la w­ others of its genre. it is never­ fully censored from student theless often true that one publications by school offi­ A man 's yulgarity is another 's cials. More importantly, the Practical Guide lyric ." Cohen California, v. courls have held that befo re 4<)3 U.S. 15. 25 (1971) (em­ material can be censored as For the Student phasis supplied). obscene, the school offi cial The Cohen decision is illus­ musl sho w that objectionable Journalist trative of the Supreme Court's material meets the Supreme struggle to reconcile First Court definition of obscenity, Amendment guarantees of rather than (he offi cia l's own free speech and press with the conclusion thot the material co fli cting right of communi- n is "off ensive " or in "bod by Richard Kaye lies to excise that speech which toste" . is without social value and Wh at fo llo ws is an analysis which may pose a potential

of the Supreme Co urt 's strug- danger to the commu nity . gle to define obscenity and a brief discussion of the Obscenity Unprotected by application of that definition to the slUdellf press. Th e analysis is not intended to be exhaustive, and students ex­ the First Amendment periencing obscenity problems should contacl a la wyer or Obscenity has long been recognized as a category of the Studen t Press Law Cen ter. speech without worth and therefo r unprotected by First e Amendment guarantees. The Supreme Court's obscenity

(n 1968 . Paul R. Cohen was arrested for walking decisions. as in the Cohen case , have attempted to separate through a county courthouse wearing a jacket embroidered that which is merely distasteful from speech without any with the words. "F--- the Dra ft". He was subsequently soc;al worth-a goal which many feel the Court has yet to charged with "disturbing the peace" and convicted ;n the success fu lly achieve.

Superior Court of Los Angeles County. However, his con­ In the early twentiet h century , number of the lower a viction was reversed by a 5-4 majority of the United States courts in the United States adhered to the so-called "Hick-

.•. -..- ...- ...... -'-" ...... -- .._.- .._._----_. __. _---- 14 SPLC Report Spring 1978 ------�- --· .. -- - . ------..... ------. . - - . ------.-.-.. ----- .. --... ------. - -.. --"------.... -.. -.--..... ---..--.------. ... - ---...... - - . ..--.-.-.---- . -. . --- Y�I�._ O A S OB S A L _ A __ It�A� __ ..___ �S�E�_111':__ N __� _�_�_9_ __��g _ L_��� Y �_�______���N lTV: N ��.� ���_�L

lin ru le" (enu nciated by Lord Chief Justice Cock burn of to prurient interest in sex, the Court said, but it must also England in 1868) in deciding what reading matter was ap­ be found that "b) the material is patently offensive be­ propriate for general consumption_ This test permitted a cause it affronts contemporary community standards re­ j udge to consider the possible deleterious effects of lating to the description or represen tat ion of sexual ma t­ isolated passages of a wor k on t he young and the most ters; and c) the material is utterly without r edeeming social susceptible persons in the co mmunity. value." The Court required independent sat is faction of However. the first landmark Supreme Court decision in each criterion of the three-pronged test : "the social value the field of obscenity. Roth Y. U.S_. 354 U_S. 476 (1957). of the boo k can neither be weighed against nor canceled by discarded the Hicklin test while, at the same time. explicit­ its prurient appeal or patent offensiveness. " ly affirmi ng the right of the states to regulate obscenity. The additions to the Roth standard were s ignificant for According to the Court, "it is apparent that the uncondi­ two reasons. First, the new test attempted to narrow the tional phrasing of t he First Amendment was not intended ra nks of the unprotected to those works which were both to protect every utterance __ . . The protect ion given " prurient" and "patently offensive" (a term as ambig­ s peech and press was fa shioned to assure unfetlered inter­ uous as "prurient ", to be su re, but stili somewhat more change of ideas for the bringing about of political and so­ limiting) . More important (and controversial) however.

cial changes desired by the people . __. AJI ideas having was the third part of the new test-requiring obscenity to even the slightest redeem ing social importance-unortho­ be that which is "utterly without redeeming social value"_ dox ideas, controversial ideas . even ideas hateful to the This "social value" factor saved the boo k at issue in the prevailing climate of opin io n-have t he full protection of case, Fa nny HiI/, as well as many other works ca ndidly the guarantees, unless excludable because they encroach dealing with sexual mallers which were brought before the upon the l imited area of more important interests_ But im­ Coun in later cases. plicit in the history of the First Between 1967 and 1973 the Amendment is the rejection of Supreme Court reversed every obscenity as u tterly without re­ QUITE ��NKlY YOU R. �.. . obscenity co nviction it re­ THE GITrz.E:It'S O� p.,lEW -...e:c cA,., deeming social im portance ." viewed involving distribution A\.A.�A, A�E OUTR �f'1> AT nus, Rather than forcing all to "'���'ZINE'S 6f\AP,Uc.. �IS Pt.A" oP of sexual materials to adults read only what is fit for the WO"'£N� ""'(�S � T� AJOfE.' except those which involved "most susceptible" members certain hard-core pornography of society, the Roth Court sug­ and pictorial depictions of ex­

gested the following test for plicit sexual activity _ The "so­ obscen ity: " whether to the cial value" factor was credited average perso n. applying con­ by many for this result-near­ temporary co mmunity stan­ ly every work could be fou nd dards, the dominant theme of to ha vesome social val ue . the material taken as a whole On the same day as the appeals to pr-urient i nterest ." Me moirs decision . the Court Th us, not only was a work to announced that the lower be judged by its effect on the courts could consider the cir­ average mem ber of the com­ cumstances of production, munity. but isolated passages sale, and pu bl icity for a work Oy Oale Axelrod, courlesy Bay Area Coallr'on 10 SlOP S 1437 were not to justify a b an on an as relevant to the determina- entire work. Consideration was to be made of the work as tion of obscenity. Thus, if the accused had " pandered " to a whole and only "prurient" material . defined as material his audience-that is, he deliberately represented in his ad­ "having a tendency to excite lust ful thoughts ." was to be vertising that h is materials were sexually arousing-this considered obscene_ evidence cou ld be used to support the determination that Signi ficantly, the Court in the Roth case failed to define the mater ial was obscene "even though in other contexts the community (nat ional, state, or local) whose standards the material would escape such condemnation." This was were to be applied _ Neither did the Court adeq uately stress so, said the Court, because pandering "would tend to the notion that First Amendment values (e.g. literary. ar­ force public confrontat ion with the potentially offensive tistic. political, scientific worth, etc_) would sometimes aspects of the work; the brazenness of such an appeal avert a finding of obscenity in spite of a work's appeal to heightens the offensiveness of the publications to t hose prurient interest . who are offended by the material." Ginsburg v. US., 383 U ,So 463 (1966)- The Court seemed particularly concerned Utterly Without Redeeming Social Va lue with preventing the invasion of pri vacy created by un­ The a mbigui ty of t he Roth decision led to a repeated solicited mailings of such materials. modi fical ion and clarification in su bsequent cases. A key Despite the new standard announced in the Mem oirs case in this consti tutional development was John Cleland's case, there was still confusion in the courts, as well as in "Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure " y_ Massachusetls, the literary world . about what was and what was not con­ 383 U.S. 413 (1966), a prosecution for the sale of an sidered obscen ity. Though the Su preme Court gave liule "erotic classic". (he book popularly known as Fa nny Hill. additional guidance until 1973. the confusion did provoke In this case, the Court added two new fa ctors to the Roth one of the Justices into t he o ft-repeated explanatio n , "J design. Not on ly did a finding have to be made that a) the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals continued on page 16

Spring 1978 SPLC Report 15 IS

continued from page 15 without redeeming social value" te st. which had made previ ou s prosecutions so difficult, and substituted the shall not today aUempt further to define the kinds 0 f material somewhat more lenient standard requiring a work to contain I understand to be embraced within that shorthand descrip­ "serious literary. artistic, political, or scientific value", an ion ( " ar -co e pornography", the u c t h d r only kind the J sti e extremely subjective judgment. believed could constitutionally be s uppressed and perhaps [ ] ; The definitionof obscenity announced in Miller is now the could never succeed in in telligib ly doing so . But J kn ow it law of the land. That definition must be used in all por­ when case is I see it. and the motion picture involved in this nography prosecutions in state and federal courts. not that." Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 184, 197 (1964) U.S. The Miller decision was predictably popular with local Jr., concurri ng) (emphasis supplied), (Stewart, prosecutors seeking to eliminate the smut trade in their As noted, few obscenity convictions were sustained by the comm unities, but it j ust as predictably caused great co n­ Supreme Court in the wake of acceptance of the "utterly fusion. With the applicat ion of local community standards , without redeeming social value" test. However. with the in­ nationally distributed materials could be fo und obscene in c s o o . f rea ing availability of p rn graphy many began to eel that certain States and non-obscene elsewhere. Even widely ac­ done to "halt r si g of something needed to be the i n tide claimed works could be attacked in the more unsophisticated smut ." beg n to speak out against the moral Politicians a communities. Des pite the examples of hard-<:orepornography pollution created by the "smut peddlers ". A Presidential c ited by the Court in the Miller opin ion , what might be Commission on Obscenity was formed to determi ne the ef­ con sidered "patently offensive" in Albany, Georgia would ects of o r box . f p rnog aphy on its "consumers ". (See p. 19) not be likely to conform with t he determination of the citiz.ens The number of cases in the federal courts began to swelt as of New York City. prosecutors became more diligent in thei r efforts to convict [n Je1/kins v. Georgia, 418 U.S. 153 (1974), the SUpreme pornogr aphers .

Local Community Standards The Supreme Court entered the fray once more in 1973 in Banned in Fin la nd an effort to, once and for all, solve what Mr. Justice Harlan ------

called "the intractable obscenity problem " . The Court's decision in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973) appeased those who took a hard line on obscenity by IS THIS DUCK a significantly easing the path of local prosecutors-for no longer was the Supreme Court to remain the ultimate arbiter A Helsi nk i, Finland yo uth committee recen tly decided of taste for the nation. Instead, the Co urt ruled that the States that Donald Duck comic books, the cartoon creation of

should apply a new obscenity test according to their own stan­ Walt Di sney, are inappropriate for viewing by the natio n 's dards, rather than national ones . Mr. Chief Justice Burger youth. spoke for the Court: "These are essentially qu tions of fa ct, es The com mittee cited Donald's fifty-year engagement to and our nation is simply too big and too diverse for this Court Daisy Duck , the questionable paren tage of his three to reasonably expect that such standards could articulat be ed nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie and the brief sailor suit fo r all 50 states in a single formulation, even as um ing the s that Donald wears-which leaves his feathery bottom prerequisite consensus exists ....To req uire a State to struc ­ exposed fo r aU to see -as reasons for bann ing the comic. ture obscenity proceedi ngs around evidence 0 f a national The committee has co nvinced the Helsinki city council "commun ity standard" would be an exercise in futility." to cancel subscriptions to the comic in the city ' s youth club The new test to be applied by the States was a slightly libraries. altered version of the three · part Memoirs test: e "a) whether the average person, ap plying contemporary These actions by the youth committee hav touched off community standards, would find that the work, taken as a a strong protest from members of the Donald Duck Club, whole, appeals to prurient interest, a Hamburg. West Germany association of 100 members, "b) whether the work depicts or describes. in a patently of­ headed by Hans Von Storch , a 28-year-old mathematician. fe nsive way, sexual conduct speci fically defined by the appli­ The club was formed by Von Storch after he read a cable state law, and magazine put out by a group o f Donald Duck sch olars in flc) whether the work , taken as a whole, lack s serious Norway. two clubs claim that studying Donald s like literary, artistic, political , or scien ti fic value." The Duck i The first part of t he test was virtually identical with Roth studying m athematics or physics because the comic book world of Duckburg is an " arti ci l system" in which an and subsequent ru lin gs. The second part was altered to re­ fi a quire the States to define in their obscenity statutes what con­ infinite number of questions may be asked and e v idence duct could not be portrayed in print or on the screen, so as to for answers gathered from the comic books themselves. give n otice to those who contemplated distributing or creat ing which have been published since the 1930's. "borderline" work s in the future . Some examples provided in In a letter of protest written to the Fin n ish ambassador the opinion indicated that the Cou rt was concerned with to West Germany, Von Storch called the committee' s banning only hard-core pornography-the first time that a ac tions "ridiculous", while documenting the facts that majority of the Court acknowledged this limitation . . Donald does not drink. smoke, take drugs or have sex with The third part of the new test was the one that particularly his girlfriend Daisy . According to Von Sto rc h, "Donald is disturbed those concerned with preventing suppression of L.:��� he m_�st moral ducks in h istory . ,. � . legitimate expression. The Court discarded the " utterly ______-----_ . ... _...... -..... __ ...... - ..-. ..._. - .. _ _ ...... _ 16 SPLC Report Sprinj Court faced this problem in the contexi of Ihe appeal of a theater manager convicted for showing the much·acclaimed Obscenity and Minors film, "Carnal Knowledge". a movie cited by many critics as In 1968, the Supreme Courl considered whether a statule one of the best of the yearand which also won Ann Margaret containi ng "variable obscenity" standards. that is Ihe an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress . recognition that certain materials may be obscene as to

The Court attempted to resolve the problem by r ferring to minors though non.obscene as to adults, was constitut onal . e i the examples it had cited in the Miller opinion as establishing Ginsberg N. Y. , 390 U.S. 629 (1968). At issue was a New v. "substantive constitutional limitations " on what a local jury York statule which prohibited the sale to persons under 17

might find to be " patently offensive". After viewing the film, years of age of material defined to be obscene on the basis of the Court ruled, "Appellant'S showing of the film . Carnal its appeal 10 minors, whether or not it would be obscene to Knowledge' is simply not the 'public portrayal of hard core adults. sexual conduct for its own sake, and for ensuing commercial Sam Ginsberg, owner of Sam's Stationery and Luncheon­ gain', which we said was punishable in Miller." ette in Bellmore, N. Y. was convicted of selling "girlie "

The Court's recognition in the Jenkins case of a con· magazines, dearly non-obscene as to adults, to a 16 year old stitutional (and thus national) limitation on what might be boy. In obtaining the conviction , the trial court applied the considered "patently offensive" has resulted in continuing Memoirs test 10 minors and found Ihat the material involved federal involvement in obscenity cases. As long the in the case I) predominantly appealed the prurient inlerest as : 10 standards for determ ining obscenity remain subjective. the oj minors, 2) was patently o ffensive to prevailing standards in Supreme Court will remain whal retired Justice William O. the adult community as a whole with respect to whal is

Douglas once called , the nation ' s "Board of Supreme suitable material Jo r minors, and 3) was utterly without Censors." redeeming sodal importancejor minors. In upholding the conviction Ihe U.S. Supreme Court said: "{T]he parents' claim 10 authority in their own household to direct the rearing of their children is basic in the structure of our society .... The legislature could properlyconclude that parents and others. teachers fo r example. who have this

primary responsibility for children's well-being are entitled to the support of laws designed to aid discharge of that respon­ BSCENE? sibility . . .. Moreover. the prohibition against sales to minors does not bar parents who so desire from purchasing the magazines for their children ." As a separate ground for approving the variable standard . Ihe Court said , "The State also has an independent interest in Ihe well-being of its youth . . . While the supervision of children's reading may best be left to their paren ls. the knowledge that parenlal control or guidance cannot always be provided and society's transcendent interest in protecting Ihe wel fare of children juslify reasonab le regulation of the sale of material to them." The vitality of the Ginsberg principle appears assured despite the decision in Miller to suppress only "hard·core" pornography from adults. The Court has recently Slated, "It is well settled that a State or municipality can adopt more stringent conlrols on communicative materials available 10 youths than on those available to adults." Erznoznik v. City oj Jacksonville, 95 S. Ct. 2268 (1975) . However, the Courl has reaffirmed the notion that. even as to minors, material must be "in some significant way. erotic" in order to be proscribed . For example, the Erznoznik case held that allnu dity may not be banned as obscene 10 minors. Thus ft has been established that material which is not obscene as to adults may be obscene as (0 minors. However. it is clear that in order for material to be obscene as 10 minors , it must still meet the three-pronged test announced in Miller. Obscenity is probably the most frequently used justifica· tion for school administrators who seek to censor the student press. Almost always, however. the controversial material is not obscene at all. but rather merely profane. The dislinction between obscenily and profanity is vital to a n understanding of the student press cases in this area.

CourtesyWafi Dnsney ProduCllons For material to be legally obscene. it must meet the Miller Donald strikes a ra ther angelic pose for SPLC Reports continued on page 18

------1978 SPLC Report 17 O- BS'CENITY: AN SPLC LEGAL ANAL'lsIS OBSCENITY: AN SPLC lEGAL. ANAlVsi's--- - _ .. _ ...... • ... ..•. ... _ .. _--- ...... _...... •....••..•.•..••• . .. .-- .. --.•.•...... ---_. __ .. _._._ .. _...... _ .. _._- -_.. __...... --.....__ .....••... _...... _--_...... _._ ...

continued from page 17 of obscenity. Most, if not all. of the cases dealt with publi­ cations which contained only profanity and not obscenity. three-pronged test discussed above. It is not sufficient that The Supreme Court has decided only one major casein the material be merely offensive or in bad taste; it must be this area, Popish Board oj Curators oj Univ. oj Mo. , v. sexually stimulating. Simply stated profanity is Ihe use of 410 U.S. 667 (1973), and since the Supreme Court is the what are commonly called "four-letter words". Profan ity highest court in the land, the decision is binding on all is protected by the First Amend ment; obscenity is not. other courts . In Popish the Court ruled tbat the use of pro­ fanity in a university newspaper could not be prohibited as Basic Student Press Righ ts obscene or as speech posing a threat of disruption . Any discussion of student press rights must begin Although the Court did not specifically state that the with the landmark Supreme Court decision of Tinker v. rule announced in Popish is applicable to the high school Moines. 393 U.S. 530 (1969). In this 1969 decision the press, every case since Popish involving high school Des a Supreme Court affirmed the right of a high school student publication which was allegedly "obscene" has followed to wear a black armband in public school to protest con­ the Popish holding and re fused to allow censorship on the tinuation of the Vietnam War. The Court. for the first basis of profanity. time, explicitly recognized the applicability of First It seems unlikely, as discussed earlier. that the use of Amendment principles in the school environment . The profanity may be prohibited, even as to minors, on the Court also indicated that the traditional limitations on free basis of its being obscene. The argument in some of the speech (e.g. obscenity) were applicable. In addition. due to cases that the profanity poses a threat of substantial or the special environment of the schools. the �ourt recog­ material disruption to order within the school seems nized an independent justification for interference with nothing more than what the Tinker Court called an "un­ First Amendment rights-the threat of subslantial or ma­ differentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance [which] terial disruption to order within the schools from certain is not enough 10 overcome the right to freedom of expres­ types of expression. sion . " There have been a number of federal court decisions Major student press cases involving obscenity are sum­ dealing with censorship of the student press on the grounds marized on the following pages. C

Obscenity and the Student Press

Summarized below is every major case in which a school administrator attempted to censor a student publication on the grounds of obscenity

"Oral sex may prevent tooth decay" was not legally ob­ scene and that the students were wrongfully expelled and HIGH SCHOOL must be reinstated. Erznoznik v. City oj Jacksonville , 95 S. Ct. 2268 (1975). Jacobs v. Bd. oj School Comm., 490 F.2d 601(7 th Ci r. The defendant was convicted of showing a fi lm containing 1973), 420 U.S. 128 (1975) (dismissed as moot). Several nudity at a drive-in theater visible from a pu blic street . In high school students sued officials of the Indianapolis reversing the conviction the U.S. Supreme Court held that school system to prevent them from suppressing their nudity is not necessarily obscene; it must be sexually ex­ unofficial student newspaper . The school officials at­ plicit nudity. Importantly, the Court noted that all nudity tempted to justify the suppression by arguing that the cannot be deemed obscene even as to minors. "It is clear, newspaper was obscene because it contained "earthy however, that under any test of obscenity as to minors not words relating to bodily functions and sexual intercourse." all nudity would be proscribed . Rather, to be obscene The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the mater­ 'such expression must be, in some significant way,

ial was not obscene because it was not erotic. sexually erotic' . ., explicit or did not appeal to the prurient interest . The Vo ight v. Vo n Buren Public Schools. 306 F. Supp. 1388 Court noted that profanity is not the same as obscenity and (E.D. Mich 1969). A high school student was expelled may not be suppressed . for "possession 0 f obscene literature" -a copy of Sco ville v. Boord oj Ed ucation, 425 F.2d 10 (7th Cir . Argus magazine which contained the word "f---". The 1970). Two high school students were expelled for evidence at trial showed that the school library possessed at distributing an unofficial newspaper which contained least one book and one magazine which contained the language deemed by the school officials to be "inap­ same word. The Court ordered the student reinstated propriate and indecent". The Court ruled that the sentence holding that this "rank inconsistency" was so un fair, ar-

18 SPLC Report Spring 1978 ...... -. .. . . ------�,. .. . . -� .� . . - , -- - -_. -_ .-. ------...... - . . . - _...... - _ . _ _.. - - - - - ..... - -'--- CENITY: AN SPLC LEGAL ANALYSIS OB-SCENITY: AN SPLC LEGAL ANALYSIS . OBS . ------.-- -.- -.. ------.--.,..-----.--.... .� ...... ---_._.. __...... - - - . - - -- - . . -- -

bitrary and unreasonable as to constitute a denial of due sort of profanity and vulgarisms which appear in the process. November 11, 1971 issue of the Strawberry Grenade, Va il v. Board of Education of Portsmouth Sch ool however crude they may seem , do not compel a finding District, 354 F. Supp. 592 (D.N.H. 1973). The Portsmouth that the periodical is obscene. The words that appear in School Board had prohibited the distribution of an unof­ that issue are not used to appeal to prurient sexual interests

ficial high school student newspaper because the paper had ... and fall without the legal definition o f obscenity." "no redeeming educational, social, or cultural value Koppel! v. Levine, 347 F. Su pp . 456 (E.D.N. Y. 1972) . . . . . " The school board had objected to the use of pro­ The principal of a New York City high school seized the ...... ----- . __ _ . ----- ...... fanity in the publication. The Court ruled that the suppres­ _ _ sion of the paper was unconstitutional and stated; "The continued on page 20

U.S. Commission on Ob$cen ity

On October 3, 1967, the U.S. Congress created the Commissi' n. Commission on Obscenity and Pornography because The legi lative recommendations made by the of increased public concern over the national traffic Commission were derived partly from their em­ in such materials. The Commission was established pirical inv ·tigJl.Lions, which provided "no evidence in order to investigate the seriousness of the thaI po ure 10 or use of ex plicit sexual materials situation, 10 determine whether ob. enity is harm ful play(. ) a ignificant role in the causation of social or to t e public. particularly to minor , and to d{cide in4i idual har �uch as crime. delinquency, sexual whelher more effective method'- are' need d 1 or nonsexual dc,dancy or severe emotional distur- . \.oolrol d i. IribUlion of the material : . barlee .." Among Ihe members oelhl:Commi ion appointed AT of concern to the Commission was the failure by. the Pre ident it).. January 1968. ere not d of th" law to L!cc (ully legislate suppression of . \ educarors. p ychiatri l ,and thl!ologia,l1 , a. well as a obscenil . ht!r-Commi � _(l described the Supreme judge and a sociologist. The Commis ion was chaired Court's (pr -Miller) pr no'tlncements as "vague and by illia,n Lockhart, and. P r fe ss()r of Law highly subjective aesthetic, psychological. and moral It! B. Dcan . at the Uni r i y of Minnesola Law School. ' rests (which] do not provide meaningful guidance for e s t A h ro study ' made Of Ih existing ·jn. law enforcement j ur or courts." These t o ugh was official, ies formation and ·tudie in the field. and the Com­ and other reason. led a majority of the Commission mission nl 0 initiated mpirical studies of its own. In 10 recommend Ihe eliminalion of all penalties for the addition, public hearing were held at which various distri bution of exuall�' �xplicit materials to con­ individual and or anjz.alions, representing broad senting adull ... a spectrum . f views, provided additional infOrmalion'. Although Ihe available cyidence with respect to the The Commis ion's report of its finding and possible harm to children of exposure to porno-

recommendalions was submitted 10 the P resid,enl and - -':graphy �id not support any causal relationship, the Congress on Septem ber 30, 1970. Commi sion fell lhal insufficient research was avail· The Commission first made the following non-leg­ able 'and thaI "parent should be free to make their islative recommendations. The Commission decried ow n nclu ion regarding t he suitability of explicit co s s the tendency of the public 10 suppress discussion of exu-al malcrial fo r their children." A majority of sexual matters, arguing that " failure to talk o penly . • the Commi ion Ihus·recommended the retention of

and directly about sex . . . . overemphasizes sex, ... penaltie for di lrib'�tion of such materials to child­

. gives it a magical. non-natural quality, making it ren whodo not have parenlal consent. The Commis­ more attractive and fascinating. It diverts the expres­ sion published a proposed statute encompassing their sion of sexual interest out of more legitimate chan­ recommcndalion . nels, inlO less legitimate channels . Such fa ilure makes Finally. rCl:ognizing that explicit materials are ching children and adolescents to become fu lly offen ive ommission ecommended tea 10 !lome, Ihe r and adequately functioning sexual adults a more dif­ Ie 'j lalion prohibiling public displays of sexually ficult task. And it clogs legitimate channels for e. plicit piCH)riaLm3lcrial and ited approval of ex i­ transmitting sexual inform t ion and forces people to sting fcdllml legr lation prohibits mailing of a which use clandestine and unreliable sources ." As a result, un lici red . adverli _� t . containing potentially (l men recommended that a massive sex offen�i\' ' ual materi�l lo who do not wish to the Commission c tho. e

. " education effort be launched in the nation to pro­ ret: ivc uc:b' advertisemen � . '?" mote a healthy attitude towards sex and the accep­ '. Th\! Commission's recommendations ha ve ot n tance of sex as a normal and natural part of i fe . Such !:leen widely adopted . Then-President ' Nixon openly I I an effort should be a joint effort of several institu- condemned the findings of the Commission as did

the . society: f riuln)-. >'I,l lh ':--.'� er politicians. 0 �=:.I��_.��hOOI, ... . L::n Ch.����':�:�.said ._ - -_ _-_ _---- _ ----- . .. _ ......

Spring 1978 SPLC Report 19 ._._._.. _...... _ .. _. ::-= --:- -::--=--=-= . ---_ . ._ .. OBSCENITY: AN SPLC L EGAL ANALY SIS O SCENITY: N PLC LEGAL _.1� __ "_�17��_" _" _'_ .•___ . __""" B A S ANALY�

continued from page 19 tor which ended with a "four-letter" vulgarity referring to the president of the un iversity. The letter 's author and the official st udent lite rary m agazine because it contained newspaper editor were expelled from school because of the several "four-letter words" and a descript ion of a movie leiter's publication. In ruling that the expulsions were ille­ scene where a couple fell into bed. The principal felt the gal , the Founh Circuit Court of Appeals held that students magazine was obscene. The Court found the materia l not may not be disciplined merely for using "vulgarity" or ma­ to be obscene and ruled the terial "offe nsive to good seizure unconstit utio nal . laste" in an official student The Court Slated, "The publication . magazine contained no ex­ Bazaar v. Fo rtune, 476 tended narrative tending to F.2d 570 (5th Cir. 1973). excite sexual desires or con­ University students sued 10 st ituting a p redominant ap­ prevent sc hool officials peal to prurient interest. from interfering with the The dialogue was the kind school-sponsored sludent li­ heard repea ledl y by t hose tcrary magazine. The who walk the streets of our school administration had cities, use pu bl ic convey­ sought to suppress the mag­ ances and deal with youth azine because of the use of in an open ma nner ....It "four-letter words, often was inlended by the stu­ colloquially referred 10 as dents involved to be a seri­ ' obsce ni ties' ... [includ­ . " ous l iterary effo rt . . . ing) use of 'that four-letter Sullivan v. Houston In ­ word generally felt 10 be dependent Sch ool Dis/rict, most offensive in polite 333 F. Supp . 1149 (S.D. conversation." The Fifth Tex. i971) (reversed on olh­ Ci rcuit Courl of Appeals er grounds) 47 5 F.2d 107 i held tha t the con troversial (5th Cir. 1973). The federal language was not obscene district COUri deci ded that and th erefore could not be the use of the ph rase "High censored. Skool is F--ked" did not Antone/Ii v. Ha mmond, render an unofficial high 308 F. Supp. 1329 (D. school paper obscene. The Mass. 1970). A uni versity Court stated "i ntermittent ad mi n istrat i on withdrew em ploym ent of "f---" and fu nds from an official stu­ its ilk cannot , w it h out dent newspaper because of more. render a publication the proposed publica tion of obscene . " an alleged obscene article . Baker v. Do wney City The article, "Black Mooch­ Board oj Education, 307 F. ie" by Eldridge Cleaver , Supp. 517 (C D. Cal. 1969) . contained numerous "four­ A federal district court up­ letter words" . The Co urt held the sllspension of two ruled that the suppression high schoo l students for the of the newspaper was un­ use of "pro fanil Y or vulgar­ constitUlional. ity" in an off- campus news­ Popish v. Board oj Cura­ paper. The Baker case is Ihe IOrs of the Un iversity oj only case in the country Missouri. 410 U.S. 667 holding Ihal the use of mere PtIOlO �y L,ndaScnwariZ (1973). A student at the profanity or vulgarity in a Writer Nat Hentoff has suggested that a national University of Missouri was Sludent newspaper can jus­ referendum to wipe out smut could win in every state expelled for distri buti ng a tify disciplinary action. sludenl newspaper which This case has been im plicitly (if not explicitly) overru led by school officials fe lt was obscene . The paper contained a the Popish decision and the enactment of Senale Bill 357 political cartoon of policemen raping the Statute of (effective January i, 1978) by the Cali fo rnia legisla- Liberty and the Goddess of Justice and an article entitled lure. "M-�--- F- ---- Acq uitted . " ln ruling thai the expUlsion was unconstitutional the Uni ted States Supreme C ourt speci fically held that neither the cartoo n nor Ihe article was legally obscene. The Court went on to say, "the mere dissemination of ideas-no matter how offe nsive to good Th onen v. Jen kins, 49 1 F.2d 722 (4th CiL 1973 ). A taste-on a state university campus may not be shut off in university student newspaper published a letler to the edi- the name alone of 'conventions of decency'." D

_._.__ ._. ... __ .._ .. _._-_.- - --. - . -...... ---- - . .. ------...... - ... 20 SPLC Report Spring 1978 _ _ --_._---_. . . .._ .. _ ...... _------_._--_.------._------

High CourtDe nies Due Process Damages

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in sion, if a student who is illegally cen­ fect the power of a court to provide March that students suspended from sored sues for violation 0 f his consti­ other types of relief, such as enjoin­ public schools without a hearing are tutional rights, he must prove that he ing school officials from censoring entitled to nominal damages not suffered actual injury before he can student publications or rei nstating a exceeding one dollar if they are un­ collect money damages . student who had been wrongfully sus­ able show that actual harm resulted Of course this decision does not af- pended. O from the suspensio n. The cou n's decision involved two students suspended from the Chicago public school system . Jarius Piphus, a freshman at Chicago Vocat ional High School, was suspended 20 days in 1974 for allegedly smoking mar­ ijuana on school property. Silas Briscoe, a sixth-grader at Clara Barton Elementary, was sus­ pended 20 days for wearing an earring to school. In both instances the students were not given a proper hearing to determine whether they had actually violated the schools' rules. Piphus and Briscoe sued the school officials for $3,000 and $5,000 re­ spectively, alleging that they had been suspended without procedural due process. The trial court agreed that in failing to give the students a hearing prior to suspension the school offi­ cials violated their constitutional rights . However, the court refused to award money damages because the students had failed to prove that they suffered any actual injury . Supremes toHe ar Profanity The Seventh Circuit Court of The United States Supreme Court filed with the FCC by a listener who Appeals reversed the decision of the has agreed to decide whether the heard the broadcast with his young trial court holding that the students Federal Communications Commis� son. would be enlitled to recover sub­ sion may constitutionally ban the The Pacifica Foundation (which st antial damages even without proo f broadcast of certain allegedly "inde­ owns WBAI) appealed the FCC's or­ of individual injury. cent" words during hours when child­ der claiming that it violates its First In a unanimous decision. the Su­ ren may be expected to be in the audi­ Amendment right to free expression. preme Court reversed the decision , ence. In a 2- 1 decision the District of Col­ reasoning that the basic purpose of an On Fe bruary 22. 1975 the FCC umbia Circuit Court of Appeals re­ award of money damages should be issued an order banning seven "dir­ versed the FCC's ruling. to compensate persons for injuries. ty" words in an effort to protect The Court characterized the FCC's Absent proof of actual injury. stu­ children from "indecent speech." action as "censorship" a'n d con­ dents who are wrongfully suspended The contested order was issued as demned the sweeping nature of the may recover only one dollar from a resull of the broadcast of a selection order which forbade use of the words school officials. en titled "Filty Words" from the regardless of the context. The effect Although the Court's decision is George Carlin record album "Oc­ of the order, said the Court. was "to limited to cases where students are cupation: Foole" on WBAI, a New inhibit the free and robust exchange suspended in violation of their rights York noncommercial , educat ional of ideas on a wide range of issues and to procedural due process. the deci­ FM station . The selection, which subjects by means of radio." sion has significance for student jour­ satirizes the public's attitude toward The FCC appealed the Court'S de­ nalists who are unconstitutionally offensive words. was broadcast at cision. and on January 9, 1978 the censored. 2:00on a weekday afternoon in Octo­ Supreme Court agreed to hear the ap­ Under the reasoning of Ihis deci- ber, 1973 and resulted in a complaint peal. 0

Spring 1978 SPLC Report 21 Was Hans ChristianAnder sen Censored?

"Censorship of school materials is defini[ely on the rise, and schools could be headed for one of the worst periods of ce nsorship in American histor . So warned Ed­ y " ward Jenkinson of I ndiana U., ch airman of the National Council of Teachers of English censorship committee, in a report to the mem­ bership at its annual meet ing . Unlike the stereotyped censors in periods before, he said, today's cen­ sors defy typing and come from all kinds of backgrounds. They are still co ncerned with erasing fo ur letter - words and eradicating radical ideas, Jenkinson said, "but they are after far more than that and have begun to attack school materials with a vengeance.' , Jenkinson blamed much o f the censorship activity on social un­ rest-other levels of government "Save Ou r Children " movement forbidding role-playing in schools, are relatively inaccessible, he said, "has given the censors a rallying cry Jenk inson said. "but in a period of concern, people they have lacked since the McCar­ Resources ThaI Do NOI Stress b lashing out thy era of pinkos Save Our Grammer Rules . Jenkinson spec i fi­ egin at the schools." ' '." During his work with the censor­ Children is l inked with censorship cally mentioned the efforts of Nor­ ship committee, Jenkinson has groups all over the country, Jenkin­ ma and Mel Gabler, who, he said, son said. "practically o e the state text­ come across 40 state or national or­ w r t ganizations whose major purpose is "Trash ". Th is includes "most book adoption policy in Texas" and are now speaking up el ewhere to censor school materials. contemporary books for adoles­ s . Duplicate lists and petitions are ap­ cents, " such as Ca lcher in the Rye, Materials Th aI Make Negative Statements About Parents. In Min­ pearing throughout the country. He Soul on Ice and Black Boy . listed J 2 c rent targets: nesota, for example, a school board ur Ideas, Teaching Methods and was asked to remove materials that Books Th at Are Examples of "Sec­ No vels for adolescents. Many describe parents as "old-fashioned. " ular Humanism". This charge is parents don't want their children or by any other negative." being made in every state and is di­ reading books about drugs, ghettos Phase Elective English Programs. rected against courses that include or conflicts with parents. They want which use a variety o f source mater­ "values dari fication." by whatever to go back to those who write about ials. name. more t radit ional times. " Sex Education. Realistic Dialogue. "The censors Materia ls Th ai Deal Wi th Selj­ think that all characters in books Understanding (including drug edu­ Teachers who wan! to be pre­ should speak in tandard gramma­ cation and ethnic heritages). A pet i­ pared to fight censorsh i should s , p tically correct English." t ion that has appeared in several band together in professional or­ states would prohibit schools from Works By "Questionable " Wri t­ ganizat ions and learn as much as using aterials on ethnic heritages, ers. Authors labeled as subversive m they can about the censors, Jenkin­ soc ial and cultural aspects of family by the censors indude Langston son suggested. Also, they should in­ life and self-understanding. Taken Hughes, Ogden Nash , Joan Baez , itiate the writing of policies at the literally, "this would virtually ru le and Malcolm X. building and district levels that cov­ out the t achin of English as we Lilerature By Homosexuals. Cen­ e g er selection of materials and dealing know it." sorship lists include works by Emily it h o plaints w c m . Dickinson, Willa Cather, T. E. Role-Playing . Opposition has ap­ Lawrence Virginia Wolfe, Gore Vi­ peared in Minne o a to "psycho­ Reprinted by permiSSI on fr om , s t dal and Hans Christian Andersen. drama and an (ndiana legislator Education U. S. A., © 1977, National ," Jenkinson said that Anita Bryant s almost pushed through a statute School Public Relations Assoc. 0 '

...... _ ..__ _--- -. .. 22 SPLC Report Spring 1978 ----_._-----_ .._---_._------. __ .---_. _------______..______.. ______I2Qllege

Crisisjor Student Editors? ---- _._-_._ ... _--_ ..-_._------_ ..... _-_.------

Yearbook Staffs : Don't Look Now, Bllt • • •

"Student-ediled yearboOks are in a crisi s si tuation because a number of instant yearbook co mpanies are sq ueezing into the market," says Dr. William Lawbaugh, Director of the National Council of College Publication

Advisers ' yearbook d iv ision _ Lawbaugh believes that the "instant " yearboo ks, pho tographed and edited by the yearbook company, do not give students a large enough pan in the production of the yearbook. These low-cost yearbooksare gaining in popularity. One fi rm, Institutional Services, Inc., advertises that it will publish a "Graduate Record " at no cost to the sponsoring

inst itution . The sponsor is only required to provide work­ ing space and a person to answer telephones and circulate

posters. No wri t ing , photography. edi ting or paste-up by the students is necessary . While Lawbaugh sees the instant yearbooks as a threat to student creat ivity. Stephen Berg. president of Institu­ tional Services. says that this criticis m 0 f his company is unfounded . According to Berg, most of the fifty year­ boo ks the lSI publishes were floundering because of lack of money or student interest. He says that student year­

boo k staffs are welcome to design . edit and photograph the cover or front sections of the book. "We do not want ••••• •• to control the creative aspects of the yearbook; we want to

professionalize the non-creative part, " Berg says . Lawbaugh , however, cites a recent letter from Berg to A

Catholic University 's yearbook editor in Washington, D.C. promising that Institutional Services would do •••• & ••• "99<170" of the work . John Kurdziel of Delma Studios Inc. in New Yo rk City. a company that offers the "Total Yearbook Package," assures schools that his com pa ny is not a ttempt ing to REMEMBE R TO RETURN YO UR PROO FS TO THE YEARBOOK PHOTOGRAPHER ..• " replace school yearboo ks," but that his services are for schools th at are losing yearbook funding. Delma's promotional material . however, boasts to NOW

school administrators: " No w you can have a yearbook free of cost and bot her toyour school ... Cal Poly, Pomona, CSU Los Angeles. Western M ichigan University, Herbert H. Lehman College. Universil Y of South Florida CouF1e5Y Delma Sludios and many other leading universities and colleges through­ This poster, sent to the $PLC by Delma Studios,. is part out the nation are be ne fi ti ng from Delma's hassle-free of (heir promotional campaign fo r "the To tal Total Yearbook Program. Yearbook Package " "No lo nger are these schools concerned with lack of yearboo k funds, excessive costs and deficits, recruiting, fu nds will be superseded by college administrators looking supervising, compensating and motivating a yearbook fo r ways to cut COSts. He is urging a boycott of Delma staff. No longer does the yearbook make excessive Studios , Inc. by all NCCPA members . He says that Del ma demands upon the t ime of school personnel. Delma at­ has made " millions" from student publications already. tends t o everything: the photography, preparation. "A good yea rbook . " says Lawbaugh . "is a Ihreat to publishing, sale and distribution of yo ur yearbook." crooked administralors just like any newspaper, but a Lawbaugh sees th ese companies as a th reat to student yearbook by the instant companies will be nothing but creativity and is afraid that existing yearbook staffs and puff. " 0

Spring 1978 SPLC Report 23 ..._-----_. __ ...... _--

Private School May Lose Right to Censor ___ .___ ._.___ _ .. __'_"'�.n" .. _'__ .. ·.·_···___ · b u exposure Sues Boston University

The staff of the b u exposure, a monlhly newspaper published by Boslon University students, has sued t he university presiden l and board of trustees to force the University to release $5,572. 18 in student activily funds allocated to the newspaper for academic years 1976-77 and 1977- EXTRA! £,XfRA! 78. READ NOTH'� ABoUT ITt. The lawsuit alleges that the refusal

of the university administration 10 re­ lease the funds was in retalialion for articles which appeared in the I� , newspaper critical of school officials and that it violates the student's rights to "liberty of the press and to free speech." If successful, the case would be a landmark decision for student jour­ nalists. It wou ld mark perhaps the first instance in which students at a private school have successfully sued school officials fo r violati on of Firsl Amendment rights. The current controversy actually began in November, 1976 with Ihe publication of the first issue of t he b u exposure. (See SPL C Report 6. ) That issue contained articles critical of the University, particularly University President John Silber, one of the de­ fendants named in the suit. The first two issues prompted a letter dated December 23, 1976 from the Assistant to the Vice President for Academic Affai rs stating that the ad­ ministration was reconsidering the ex­ (".a 'IOM by Bob Staak� posure's original budget of $2,400 .00 In January 1977 one-half of the origi­ ahead of pu blicati on and edited by a ing release of Ihe $4,372. 18 alloca tion nal allocation was released , however, representat ive of the U ni versilY and the $1,200.00withheld in 1977 . in March 1977 the staff was nOlified adminislration. The lawsuil is of great significance thai the remaini ng $1 ,200.00 would On November I, 1977 Ihe b u because it marks one of the tirst cases not be released. Because of a lack of exp osure was allocated $4,372. 18 by in which students at a private school funds, the b u exposure ceased publi­ the Allocations Ad visory Board, a h ave sued the school adminisl ration cation that m on th . student group constituted to make re­ for censorship of a studenl newspa­ When the staff solicited advertising commendations for expenditures of per. Historically, the courts have re­ to cover the costs of publishing st udent activity funds. However, on fused 10 hear claims of alleged consti­ during Fall 1977 . Ihey were in­ December 21. 1977 the university ad­ tutional violations by private schools. formed by school o fficials that they ministration refused to release the The studenlS have proposed several could not use the name Boslon fu nds. ostensibly because the faculty theories for claiming violations of U niversity in their publication; they adviser refused to agree to censor their press freedom rights. Fi rSI, could not use any university facilities; possibly libelous stalemenls. when the staff initially applied for and if they wanted to register as a The student staff fi led su it on Jan­ recogn ition as a student group, they sludenl organization . Ihe ontents of uary 30, 1978 in Suffolk County signed a form . which was also signed c each issue wo uld have to be reviewed (Massachusetts) Superior Court seek- by a university official, which con-

--_ ...... -•.....__ ..• _ .. _ .. _... _-- 24 SPLC Report Spring 1978 ______.______._ __ ._-.-.____ . ______._ ._. _.. _. ______. ______. __. _. ___ . __ ._._____ . ..._. ______r;oUfZge

,O.. ..,rver '

tained Ihe following language: "The University is concerned exclusively with the discharge of its educational obligation to facilitate free discussion

of all points of view , 10 th e extent guaranteed by the Constitution of the ! United States and of the State of ECCO funds axed Massachusetts. ' , Students argue t hat , in signing this 1 form , the university entered into a by Student Senate binding contract in which it has agreed to allow students the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Fi rst Now, It's Students Amendment to the Constitution. The studen ts are seeking to enforce the contract . Censorin Students The students also cite statements of g university officials and language in On Friday, March 17, the Elgin Ms. Pool said , was not approved by a the B. U. charter to the effect that (Illinois) Commun ity College Student quorum of Senators. Funding was Boslon University respected the ex­ Senate acted on its earlier threat to rest ored for t he ECCO at an April 2 pression of divergent views which cut off funds for the coUege's student I meeting of the Senate, which, said created a binding contract between newspaper, The Elg in Community Ms. Pool. was the first in recent the University and the students guar­ Colleg e Observer. weeks t hat has achieved a quorum. anteeing that student publications The ECCO received a letter from She believes that funding will last would be free from censorship . A the Senate which said, "Effective "until we say something bad about hearing on the suit is sched uled for M arch 17, Th e ECCO publication the Senate." April 20, 1978. will no longer be funded by student . The District Board of Education Despiteits fi nanciaL di fficu lties , the service fees." The reason given in the has promised to approve alternate b u exposure has continued to publish letter for suspending funds was the funding for the ECCO as soon as monthly since September 1977. Funds refusal by proposed ECCO represen­ possible to bypass the Senate funds have been raised through donations, tative Brenda Webb to participate in totally. Board member Lynn Schock subscription sales, advertising, bene­ the Sunday, March 12 meeting of the termed the ECCO funding crisis fit dances and dinners and contribu­ Senate. "very sad " . and tal ked abo ut the tions by the staff itself. Although Webb had been ap­ possibility of direct fu nding from the Recently the newspaper received proved as ECCO representative to the Board , saying "I would think we can national attention by publishing the Senale on February 24 at a Senate fund anything we want . . . That transcript of a committee meeting of meeting, she refused to participate in might insure your independence a the university's trustees in which Uni­ the March 12 meeting because she lit tle bit more. " versity President Si lber allegedly sug­ had been approved without a quorum Board member Frieda Simon said gested granting admissions in ex­ of representatives. of the Senate action, .. I find this change for donations to the universi­ The meet i ng that had approved dread fully upsetti ng . I do not like ty. The paper quoted Silber as saying, Webb had only 13 voting mem bers censorship of the press in any form ." "I'm nOl ashamed to sell these indul­ present. A quorum would have been The Senate had earlier attempted to gences. " 17 members. The ECCO refused to ac­ restrict ECCO editorial content Appearing on NBC's Today show knowledge Webb's appointment as le­ through various public relations and March 29 , Silber defended his state", gitimate because of the alleged uncon­ liaison activities involving ECCO re­ ments saying that everyo ne knew he stitutionality of the Senate ' s action al porters . Its president allegedly stated , was " only joking" and clai ming that the February 24 meeting. ECCO's ob­ "They [t he ECCO] had better stop the paper failed to Quote his state­ jection is part of its ongoing struggle biting the hand that fe eds t hem " and ment that no unqualified person against the Senale's apparent disre­ threatened to cut off fu nds . wo uld be admitted to B.U.'s medical gard fo r its own constitution. The ECCO st aff has contacted the or law school. The exposure's edilor The Senate's "cavalier" treatment Illinois American Civil Liberties Steve Kohn says he may ask for equal of the constitution had begun earlier Union to investigate litigation possi­ t ime on the Today show to respond to this year, acco rding 10 ECCO adviser bilities in this unprecedented situa­

Silber's allegati ons . 0 Beth Pool. The funding cut itself, tion. D

Spring 1978 SPLC Report 2S _ ...... _-_ ...... _ ...... __ ...... __... _. ._--_ ...... _._---- ...... -- - ... _ ...... _ ....__ ...... _-_ ...... __...... __ .....__ .. __... _ ...... _._--

dent interest . The scope of the page was widened to accom modate cover­ Adviser Fired age of participatory sports. music, drama. and campus events. A poll of SDCC students later showed that a majority preferred the wider coverage After Sports Fight instead of a strict competitive sports formal . Dean Charles Hampton im­ mediately began a campaign, directed at Roberts. to revert the page tille to "Sports ". Roberts held that to force students to retitle the page would violate their First Amend ment rights, and that he would refuse to partici­ pate in such an illegal act. At SDCC Chancellor Peed's re­ quest. County Counsel Tim Garfield issued an opinion letter which stated that such an action would, in fact. constitute censorship and therefore would be illegal . The opinion letter did suggest that spons coverage could be required to meet the curriculum re­ quirements of the journalism courses taught in co njunction with produc­ tion of the newspaper. The letter was interpreted by SDCC President Allen Repashy as per­ mitting the regulation of the paper 's general format under the guise of "academ ic control". Repashy then notified Roberts that sports musl be covered in the For/knightly (which it had been previously) because the Journalism laboratory's guidelines required instruction in "all areas" of news reporting. A charge of insubordination against Roberts fi led by Repashy had PhQlo by Bennv l.c'ey been dropped in the meantime, but At an SDCC game: Fortknightly staff contends there was little interest Repashy continued to monitor sports in sports at the college coverage in the Fo r/knightly. On November 14, 1977 American A California college student the content of the Fo rrknightly" Civil Liberties Union attorney Robert newspaper's faculty adviser has been prior to publication, thereby exposing H. Lynn filed suit in U.S. District fired because he refused to reinstate the Co llege to liability for defam atory Cou rt , So uthern California District. the paper's "Sports" page when told statements. on behalf of Roberts and student 10 do sO by the school administration . Roberts denies both charges and editor Anthony Slevens. The com­ Glen Roberts. second year adviser has requested a hearing on the maHer plaint cited both infri ngement upon to the San Diego Community College before a State hearing officer. The sludents' First Amendment rights and Fo rtknigh tly, was recommended for hearing, mandated by California's threats of disciplinary action against "non-reemployment" by Chancellor Educational Code, is to be held in Roberts. Garland Peed at SDCC's Board of ear ly May. On December 5 Judge Gordon Trustees' March 8, 1978 meeting. The Fo rtknightly's "Sports" page Thompson denied (he request for an Two charges made against Roberts in was eliminated in May of 1977 to injunction, stating that "there is no the Chancello r's recommendation make way for a "Recreation " page . dispute between the parties." The were that he "refused directives 10 Student editors had decided to cover Co unty Counsel had made the discuss sports coverage" with his su­ sporting even ts on this page, but to motion for dismissal. on Ihe grounds pervisor and that he failed to "read reduce coverage because of low stu- thaI the students' rights had not been

--- _ ..... -... _-_...... _------26 SPLC Report Spring 1978 - . . • . ! . - . - - " : .

.

· CAMPU' -'_.. _" . ..r S_··-··1

. . I violated and Roberts was not har­ · BLURBS i med. This action by Ihe College 's al­ torney con tradicted Chancellor Peed 's claim that he wanted a clear judicial decision in the matter. Dean Hampton informed Roberts that since the lawsuit had been dis­ missed, he must abide by the County Counsel's opinion letter. which had ear lier been used to justi fy censorship allempts. A memo was issued to Hampton by Repashy on February 8. 1978, directing him to discuss future Fortknightly sports coverage with Roberts. Hampton never called a meeting with Roberts for such a dis­ cussion. -----.�------At the close of an earlier Board of r­ Trustees meeting, one trustee re­ marked that the Fortkn ighrly had had Gays to be' Included in Book no problems before Roberts arrived . I, .. and another remarked that the college The commlll1iC31ion depart menl ·unnamed· ca JTipu . groups proJe, ted ' must be very sure to hire good advis­ of Ihe Univer ity of Cal.ifornia at . that their group' pict ure could I: . An ers in the future, having learned how , Lo �eles ha ann unced its ·:even t ualJy fa�e thi GSU pholo.. in little control they have over the stu­ plan to IncJude � p�oto of the �ay I he yearboo.k. . . ' dent press. I Studenl UOion In II fqrlhcotnlng , : ern"C(Jmp alsO' explained A reporter on the Fo r/knightly yearbook despite obj cli n from owh thaI the GS had refl! cd to pay foT staff found an item on the Boa rd of olher campus group . had ' wanted Trustees ' agenda for the March 8, Editors of the Southern Camplis a group photo and 1978 meeting that referred to the yearbook aid they con'idered prior approval of any ca ndid hot- , e� minaling the pholo \ h n everal . ·u ed .: 0 "non-reemployment of certain certi­ . ficated employees." Roberts attended the board meeting after discovering his fi ring was one of the three recom­ mended by Peed . Northeastern Reporter Snubbed. The Board approved without dis­ 'A reporter for Ihe Nonhea"tern ministralor at· home. I .don 't e eT : cussion the three dismissals. In an­ Uni cr ity (Mas achu en) Ne l\( lalk at home . and don't iniend to' swer to a trustee's question, Peed af­ called an associate pro os t at the make an c. cePtion now." The firmed that the persons involved had University for inform lion on a quoIt:: was primed, in headline type' been notified of their dismissal. Rob­ tory and \Va. told, "II i forbidden with abo,and the paj)E!r' com- · erts contends that he was not noti­ .'for any Ne .... taffer to call on ad- menl added: "Wel.l excu.s:e m !H U fied. Roberts says the charges on Peed 's recommendation are "rather trumped up" and have no basis in the actual ' UM Guarantees Fr ee,'Speech' events of the period. He concedes that he did refuse to discuss sports The Unh'cr ily of Mi 'higan has Th new pcech policy wa ' cn- coverage with Hampton on onc occa­ adoplcd a frec peech policy to in- act a' a reaction t d' ruptio sion, that being while the case was . ure Ih, I the r ighl ' of thc peaker, Mich i an . during a 1975 vi it to the nOI " o pe nding District Court , but n any p tenl i a l protc tor , and [he ampus by I, racli President Eph- several occasions." He contends that audience arc ob eT\'cd . raim Karz.ir. the charge of exposing the College 10 The p licy .lal thal " prot {Or appea r liability by not reading copy was m u. I nOt inrcrfcre unduly, " with a flder the policy. if [here rupt i c behav ior. Ihc never mentioned to him before his peaker \\ hen hc Or h i addr s- ( be di, uni- dismissal and has no basis in fact. ing an audience. II al 0 prohibit er ity may "pro ccd with I ho e· Meanwhile, the Forlknighrly has th Unill r it)'fr m di couraging an mea ure ne ry 10 r labli h 1 continued to publish a "Recreation " im'itcd peak r rom appearin g OUI order, which may indud phy i al 1 page which has included coverage of o a a o ( I he prOle 10[<',".0 of�ear _____ \r J . _ , fIl SDCC sports events. . __ e__( reac��o.". . r_e 0 � _��_I .n______.,!

Spring 1978 SPLC Report 27 - ______' __ n__ '______

t::: �'.��;:�:���":; ,tf. .-,.. ;o:;;,rt� �� ����".N,��. )�· J:�,�i.:JJ!:Ii.._�I:i.• ; ' .....�: •.;; :;.. :.: 'I.:;-�� .:;:� :; �� ":K-�J<�::;� . �M __ ••• _ ;,.. ... � .' • • .:.: -- � -, --' .' t

. -. �'":, ."- � �� - '.' ..--. -- . -;"" ...:C�-11: '::... ;" :::' ,..:,;;..� .:,.... ��.o.:.;.�,��, ::;';. -, -�.�.', . ::7'.l �i :�;·_ .,:.-,,; i.f:�.. .-·� · .';". ,. ...' . ;.� '. "," :'\. � ;..

Gfa�t\'c byJames Pres"""

1"0

F CC lIe ars WX PN A rg UllJents

On March 28, 1978 the Federal In a ruling on April 4, 1977, FCC vene in the controversy claiming that Com m unications Commission heard Administrative Law Judge Walter C. the case raised important Fi rst oral arguments by the Uni versity of Miller denied U _ Pe nn 's request to re­ Amendment issues. Miller denied the Pennsylvania concerning t he FCC's new the license. Miller decided that request on the basis that the ACLU denial of renewal for the license of the license should not be renewed be ­ "misinterpreted the thrust of the de­ WXPN, Philade l phia. cause trustees had "fai led to exercise signated issues. and fai led to demon­ strate how it will help the FCC in the In 1975, student radio station adequate control and supervision in determination of issues_" WXPN at Ihe University of Pennsyl ­ over WXPN's operations a manner consistent wit h a licensee's responsi­ In the March hearing. however. vania in Philadel phia presented its 28 bilities and. therefore, did not po s­ testimony by Mrs. Happy Ship ley . weekly ca ll-in program, "The Vege­ sess the requisite Qualifications to re­ Chairperson of " Frien d s of table Report ". which allegedly con­ m ain a Co mmission licensee _ " (See WX PN.·' sh owed that the station tained obscene materiaL SPL C Report 5.) now provides a val uable service to the The FCC. acting on co mplaint s In addition to the obscenity ch arge , co mmunity, "Friends of WXPN" is abo ut the broadcasts. began an inves­ WXPN was said to have operated a group of 107 interested listeners tiga tion which led to unanimous de­ a without a pro perly licen sed engineer, formed 10 show support for the radio cision by the fCC to fine WXPN failed to make weekly transmitter station . There was a question also of ­ $2.000, The FCC found that the sta readings and i nter fered with televi­ whet her revo king the license would tion had violated the Communica­ sion reception in the area. Miller also accomplish anything since the stu­ tions Act and federal obscenity stat­ said that station personnel had used dents in question have graduated and utes by "broadcasting words depict ­ hashish , marijuana and alcohol on the stat ion is now broadcasting satis­ in g sexual and e xcretory functions in the station's premises. factorily_ a pa tently o ffensive manner." (See On April 27. 1976, the P hiladelphia A decision is not expected for sev­ SPL C Report 4.) Civil Liberties Union sought to inter- eral months. 0

------,------28 SPLC Report Spring 1978 Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968) Ten Years Later

Te n years ago this June 6th Robert F. Kel}nedy was struck down at the height of his career by an assassin's bullet. He had served his country magnificently as Attorney General during he fi rst turbulent years of the civil rights movement ,and later as U.S. Senator. Butit is as the champion of young people that we wish to remember him: the man who recognized that America's greatest resource is its youth. The Student Press Law Center was founded in 1974 as a project of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, and it is to the Memorial that we primarily owe our continued existence. , " We hopethat through our effo rts to help student malists, we are in some small way helping to the visions of this great man a reality.

---,---""- ,-,-"--""'''''-- '' ''' ',,'',,'' ' '''--_.--.'- .''., ,..• ,----,-, '''' '- --''-.".... ""._--- """ """--- .._".,,-" "-_._.. _._--- Spring 1978 SPLC Report 29 studentpreSS law center report 5-fa 1977

-----_ .. _-_ ._.__ ._------_._._------_._-- ._-_._- ._------

Appeals Courts We igh Potential Landmarks In Student Press Law Two nationally-publicized court cases, which may become landmarks in defining the First Amendment rights of high school students writing for school-funded newspapers, have been argued in the United States Co urts of Appeals. and are expected to be decid€d during this school semester.

The Fourth Circuit (Richmond. Virginia), on June 10, heard the appeal in Gambirw v_ Fairfax County 1977, School Board, a case in which the editors of the Farm News, student newspaper at Hayfield Secondary School Fairfax County, Virginia, are suing Fairfax County in School officials for censoring an article concerning the sexual practices and awareness of students at Hayfield. The Fairfax school board appealed the District Court decision in favor of student journalists Gina Gambino and Lauren Boyd . The Second Circuit (New York City), on March 31, heard the appeal in Trachtman v. Anker, case in 1977, a which an editor of New York City 's Stuyvesant High School Voice is suing the City's Board of Education for censoring sex survey. Both the school board and the 8 plaintiff, Voice editor Jeff Trachtman , appealed the Dis­ trict Court ruling that the Voice could conduct sex survey a among juniors and seniors, but not among freshmen and sophomores. It is not when the courts announce their known will decisions, but lawyers in both cases anticipate word in the near future.

Gambino v _ Fairfaz Co unty School Board 429 F_ Supp. (E_D. Va. 731 1977) In This Issue The February decision of Federal Judge Alhert Bryan , J _ the Gambino case became tbe specific discus­ r in first Proseculor Subpuenas Sludenls, Adviser .. sion by 8 court of law on the First Amendment rights of PlJ1:,f 4 Ad,-isers Fig ht Reassignments _ . __page high school journalists writing for school-funded news­ . 7 a Landmarks in Student Press Law paper_ . page 9 SPLC Legal Analys is : The Luw 0/ Lihel _ page The decision in part that the Farm News was .. stated ., 10 conceived, established, and operated conduit for Court Releases Un iverfily Paperfl . . . page 8S a 15 student expression on a wide variety of topics. It falls Private Schools Free Speech . .. .. _ . . . [ and page 16 I clearly within the parameters of tb.e First Amendment. " Students Confest . t Ban on Alcohol Ads... . page /9 j "----______. ______J continued on page two

•

�- : Cop,"righl 1977. SlUdeol Pre,_, Law Ct.'nli.:'r Your subscription helps support the work of the Student Press Law Center

The Student Pres s Law Center is the only national organization devoted exclusively to protecting the First Amendment rig hts of this nation's high school and college journalists. The Center serves as a national legal aid agency providing legal assistance and information to students and faculty advisers experiencing censorship or other legal problems Three times a year (Winter, Spring, and Fall), the Center pu blishes a comprehensive Report summarizing current controversies over student press rights. In addition, the Reports explain and analyze complex legal iss ues most often confronted by student journalists . Major court and legislative actions are highlighted. This year, the SPLC Report has been extensively revised and expanded to better meet the needs of students, teachers, administrators, and lawyers. Your subscription price ($5.00 for high school or college newspapers , $7.00 for all other groups and individuals) will help us continue to serve as the national advocate for the rights of student journalists. Other contributions are tax-deductible. Return the blank below, along with a check or money order to:

The Student Press Law Center Room 1112 1750 Pennsylvania A venue NW Washington, DC 20006 (202) 347-6888

Please enter my subscription to SPLC Reports:

o 1 year at $5.00 - for student newspapers

o 1 year at $7.00 - for individ ual subscribers Along with this blank I have enclosed a check or money order payable to: Student Press Law Center, 1750 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Room 11 12, Washington , DC 20006 .

Name ______. ______jPlea�1;' print)

Address _ ___._. __. ______. ___ . ____ . __. ___._ I

City. Slale. Zip

o 1 wish to support the work of the St udent Press Law Center with a contribution in the fo llowing amount :

The SPLC is interested in the titles or po sitions of its

individual subscribers : ___ . ___ _ .___ ..______._. . ______lilk/rmilion

--_... __ ._-_._ ....__ .._._._._------_._--- -_ ...._ . .. - ----�---- ...... - . --- - Spring 1978 SPLC Report 31 - - --. � student press law center non-pfotlt org us postage 1750 pennsylvania ave nw o a I d 1112 rm washington , de washington de 20006 perm!! no 45422

ATTENTION: Student Newspaper

-----,--,- .- ----,-,,------"._------