Rights of Student Groups Advanced in Far-Reaching Court Decision - LDF Wins Reinstatement of Bi-Racial Student Organization Ousted by Arkansas College

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President 
Hon. Francis E. Rivers 

PRESS RELEASE Director-Counsel 
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egal fefense und dick Creenbore 
FOR RELEASE Director, Public Relations 

| NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. : Tana Dovare Ie. 

10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 Saturday, August nds pode 2O7-%187 

RIGHTS OF STUDENT GROUP'S ADVANCED 

IN FAR-REACHING COURT DECISION 

LDF Wins Reinstatement of Bi-Racial Student 

Organization Ousted by Arkansas College 

ST. LOUIS, MO.---In the first decision of its kind, the U.S. Court of Appeals 

for the Eighth Circuit here has extended First Amendment guarantees of free 

expression and association to a campus student organization. 

The ruling came late last week in a suit brought by the NAACP Legal 

Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) on behalf of a bi-racial student 

group and its faculty advisers at SouthernState College in Magnolia, Arkansas. 

The LDF suit charged that college officials violated the constitutionally 

protected rights of free speech and association of Students United for 

Rights and Equality (SURE), the largest and "only truly integrated student 

group on campus." 

LDF attorneys maintained that, from SURE's inception in the fall of 1968, 

there was a sustained pattern of harrassment and discrimination because of 

the bi-racial character of the organization, culminating in the revocation 

of its charter and the termination of its faculty advisers' connections with 

the college. 

SURE's stated purposes include: 

(a) to provide an organized program of leadership and 

participation among representatives of all races, 

nationalities and religions. 

(b) to provide service to the college in order to assist 

in the realization of its goals. 

(c) to stimulate closer relationships among members of 

all races, nationalities and religions. 

(a) to provide members an opportunity to develop 

philosophies regarding human relations. 

The first major crackdown on SURE came in February of 1969 after it 

wrote a letter to a local minister requesting an explanation for his church's 

refusal to admit four black students to a Sunday service. 

On March 24, 1969 official recognition of SURE was suspended because 

it defied an administration demand that a previously extended speaker invi- 

tation be withdrawn. 

The speakers were invited to show and then discuss an AFL-CIO produced 

film on race relations. 

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In reversing a lower court ruling, the Appeals Court held that 

First Amendment rights of the membership and advisers of SURE were violated: 

"the administrators had no right to prohibit SURE from expressing its 

views on integration....or to impose sanctions on its members or advisers 

for expressing these views," and the administrators "had no right to 

demand that the speaking invitation....be withdrawn or to impose sanctions 

for the refusal to withdraw it." 

Further, the Court's opinion declared that SURE "had conducted its 

activities in a mature, responsible manner during that entire period." 

The Court ordered the removal of SURE's suspension and probation 

and the rescission of any orders prohibiting the holding of office 

in SURE or serving as adviser to SURE. 

The Arkansas State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission 

on Civil Rights conducted an inquiry into the two incidents at Southern 

State College. They published a report in June, 1969, which was critical of 

the administrators' handling of the incidents and it suggested recommendations. 

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NOTE: Please bear in mind that the LDF is a completely separate and distinct 

organization even though we were established by the NAACP and those initials 

are retainedin our name. Our correct designation is NAACP Legal Defense and 
Educational Fund, Inc., frequently shortened to LDF.