Westminster : Student Editor Resigns After Victory in Court

Michael Shindler, the Westminster High School student journalist whose editorial about AIDS led to a court battle with school officials, has resigned as editor of Scroll, the school newspaper.

Shindler, a 17-year-old senior, submitted a letter of resignation to school officials Tuesday. The letter also called for the resignation of Karen Friedrich, the newspaper’s faculty adviser, citing friction between Friedrich and the newspaper’s student editors.

Shindler wrote an editorial last fall that criticized public misconceptions about AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) and accused the Rev. Jerry Falwell and Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) of spreading misinformation about the disease and about homosexuals.

Friedrich and Westminster High School Principal Robert Boehme disapproved of the editorial in October and said they would not allow its publication, according to a lawsuit filed in Shindler’s behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union. In early December, the school administration was ordered in Orange County Superior Court to allow publication of the editorial.

The district then indicated that it would appeal the ruling but last week said it will drop efforts to prevent the editorial’s publication. The district also agreed to pay $14,000 in legal fees for Shindler’s fight and to allow Shindler to remain as newspaper editor.

Shindler said Wednesday that he expected to be fired or to be forced to resign when he first filed the lawsuit. He also said he fought school officials because he did not feel that they had the constitutional right to arbitrarily censor student publications.