Dismissed Tennessee A. & I. Freedom Riders Win Right to Hearing in Federal Court

    —PRESS RELEASE 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
TOCOLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEW YORK19,N.Y. © JUdson 6-8397 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS JACK GREENBERG CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY 
President General Counsel Associate Counsel 

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DISMISSED TENNESSEE A. & I. FREEDOM RIDERS 
WIN RIGHT TO HEARING IN FEDERAL COURT 

January 3, 1962 

NEW YORK - Federal Judge William E. Miller of Nashville, Tenn., ruled 

this week in favor of thirteen Tennessee A. & I. University students 

who were summarily dismissed last June for participating in Freedom 

Rides from Nashville to Jackson, Miss. 

Jistrict Judge Miller ordered that the Negro students are 

entitled to a hearing and notice of the charges against tem betore 

action is taken on the grounds of misconduct. 

The students received a letter from President W. S. Davis of 

Tennessee A, & I. on June 1, 1961, notifying them that they were 

suspended for misconduct and could not return for the school year of 

1961-62. Dr. Davis based his decision on a state disciplinary regu- 

lation of April 8, 1960, which authorized him to dismiss any student 

‘arrested and convicted on charges involving personal misconduct,” 

The students did not learn of their dismissal until almost a 

month later. All thirteen were jailed approximately 30 days in 

Mississippi after their arrests in Jackson. 

When the students were released from jail and returied to 

Nashville, they requested, and finally received an audience with 

Presiiont Davis who informed them that the action of the school's 

disciolinary committee was mandatory under state policy. They were 

told they could take legal action if they wished. 

The students then went to Attorney Avon Williams of Nashville, 

who took their case. Their suit was supported ani financed by the 

NAACP Legal Defense Fund which won a similar case last summer on 

behalf of Alabama State University students who were expelled in 1960 

because of their participation in Montgomery sit-in demonstrations. 

Judge Miller cited the Alabama case as support for his ruling 

that "due process requires notice and some opportunity to be heard 



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before students at a state tax-supported college are exnelled for 

misconduct.” 

Discounting the school's claim that they had no choice but to 

dismiss, Judge Miller observed that "the intent of the regulation (of 

Aprils; 1960) was not that the school should summarily dismiss stu- 

dents upon conviction of criminal offenses, but only those students 

convicted of offenses accompanied by personal misconduct which 

reflected dishonor and discredit upon the institution.” 

Judge Miller noted that the dismissal letter was written on the 

basis of hearsay information, and concluded that the Committee hac no 

way of knowing whether the conduct of each student in Jackson 

reflected such dishonor or discredit. 

He ordered the attorneys for the students and the school to meet 

and agree on the type of hearing to be held, since some of the stu- 

dents were also dismissed for academic reasons and others are now 

attending other schools. 

Williams and Z. Alexander Looby of Nashville, Tenn.; Jack Greenberg 

and Derrick A. Bell, Jr., of New York City. 

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