University of Virginia Library

High Court Upholds
Iowa Students' Right
To Peaceful Protest

By David Murphy
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

The Supreme Court stated
Monday, after a hearing concerning
the rights of five Iowa students who
wore black armbands as a symbolic
protest against the war in Vietnam,
that the right of free speech cannot
be denied "at the schoolhouse
gate."

The Court said in a 7 to 2
decision that it is a student's right
to express his opinions on any
subject anywhere as long as his
actions do not abuse the rights of
others.

Justice Abe Fortas did say,
however, that any conduct that
"materially disrupts classwork or
involves substantial disorder... is, of
course, not immunized by the
constitutional guarantee of freedom
of speech.

Justice Hugo L. Black, one of
the two who voted against the
ruling called the ruling dangerous
and possible start "of a new
revolutionary era of
permissiveness."

He felt that the ruling "subjects
the public schools to the whims and
caprices of their loudest-mouthed,
but maybe not their brightest
students."

He went on to say that, "One
does not need to be a prophet to
know that once the Court's ruling
today is known, some students in
Iowa schools and indeed in all
schools will be ready, willing and
able to defy their teachers on
practically all orders."

"This is the more unfortunate
for the schools since groups of
students all over the land are
already running loose, conducting
break-ins, sit-ins, lie-ins, and
smash-ins."

His colleagues listened silently as
Mr. Black said, "I disclaim any
belief any thing, any word or any
sentence of what the Court did
today."

Justice Black was not the only
man speaking out against the
campus violence recently. President
Nixon, on Monday, spoke out
emphatically against the
disturbances, and applauded the
firm stand taken by the Reverend
Theodore M. Hesburg, President of
Notre Dame University.

Rev. Hesburg stated last week
that any person or group that
resorts to violence to achieve its
goals will be given 15 minutes of
meditation to cease and desist.

If, in that length of time, they
fail to stop, they will be suspended.
Then, if the disorder continues for
another five minutes, the students
involved will be expelled.

President Nixon disclosed, in a
letter to Vice-president Spiro T.
Agnew, that he wanted Mr. Agnew
to discuss with the nation's
governors this week "what action,
consistent with the traditional
independence of American
universities, might be taken at the
state and federal levels to cope with
the growing lawlessness on our
campuses."