Trends in the Law
![handle is hein.journals/abaj76 and id is 214 raw text is: BY PAUL REIDINGER
Trends in the Law
Sue U.
From classroom to courtroom
Universities are supposed to be
tranquil places of learning and con-
templation, not defendants in law-
suits. But university administrations
are not always soothing and benign,
and the contentiousness of students
is one of the social staples of aca-
demic life.
When the fact of university
wealth is added to the mix, the pre-
dictable result is litigation.
In two recent cases, the 1st U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals has held that
student journalists reprimanded by
Dartmouth College suffered no in-
jury that would support a federal
claim, but that a woman expelled
from a nursing program for being ov-
erweight was entitled to a jury ver-
dict in her favor. The decisions were
issued by separate three-judge panels.
Dartmouth Reviewed
The Dartmouth Review is a
creature of the 1980s: an alternative
student newspaper devoted to neo-
conservative principles. Many major
schools have versions of the Review,
but few can match the original in du-
rability or pugnacity.
In February 1988, the Review
published a piece mocking a music
professor, Bill Cole, who is black.
Hoping to draw a response to the story
from Cole, three of the Review's ed-
itors- Christopher Baldwin, John
Quilhot and John Sutter (all white)-
visited Cole in his classroom on Feb.
25. They were equipped with a cam-
era and tape recorder.
There was an imbroglio, with
Cole denouncing the three in pun-
gent language and apparently dam-
aging the camera.
The quarrel did not end there.
Cole complained to the school's com-
mittee on standards, and the editors
were charged with harassment and
disorderly conduct. The editors coun-
tercharged.
The Review, meanwhile, found
itself besieged; the president of the
college warned at a rally sponsored
by the Afro-American Society that
racism, sexism and other forms of
ignorance and disrespect have no
place at Dartmouth.
82 ABA JOURNAL / FEBRUARY 1990
In March the three young editors
were found guilty as charged; all three
were suspended. The president took
one last shot, accusing the Review of
bullying tactics. The editors, hav-
ing exhausted the school's internal
remedies, filed a federal case, arguing
the administration's conduct vio-
lated 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 2000(d).
The district cofirt dismissed for
failure to state a claim. (Dartmouth
Review v. Dartmouth College, 709 F.
Supp. 32 [D.N.H. 1989].) The 1st Cir-
cuit, in an opinion by Judge Bruce
Selya, affirmed.
Selya acknowledged the possi-
bility that Dartmouth's administra-
tion unfairly and incorrectly
branded the Review, the Students,
and their tactics, as racist and may
even have used the school's discipli-
nary procedures as weapons to si-
lence or mute the Review's criticism,
thereby chilling freedom of expres-
sion. But, said Selya, the three stu-
dents had not made out even a
colorable claim that they were sin-
gled out for unjust treatment because
of their race.
Without more, allegations that
perceived racist infractions were
punished more harshly than other
infractions do not tend to show racial
discrimination against the persons
accused, Selya said.
Weighting the scales heavily
against those who are believed to
practice racial discrimination may
seem to some to be inequitable, and
unjustified; but fair or unfair, justi-
ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERTA POLFUS](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/abaj76&div=50&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Trends in the Law
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