ACLU Affirms Students’ Stand
The June 22, 1986, Times carried a story on the censorship of a high school literary magazine at Mira Costa High School in the South Bay. That story contained a comment which might mislead readers into believing that the ACLU rejected the students’ request for help.
In fact, the ACLU was anxious to help. The students were understandably as anxious to have legal representation and so, when they did not immediately get to talk with a staff lawyer in our office, they kept calling other people until someone agreed to represent them. All of this occurred over a very short period of time, in fact, just hours.
By the time we did get in touch with one of the editors, Cindy Greenberg . . . the students had a lawyer. We continued to express our interest by calling the very able private counsel from the law firm of Overland, Berke and offering our assistance and by speaking with Greenberg.
I cannot stress enough what an excellent job Rick Wentz did in representing the students. Sadly, these kinds of cases are on the rise once again. The sheer volume means that the private bar must become involved in order to protect the students’ rights. The ACLU’s commitment and interest remains as high as it has ever been in this critical area of First Amendment rights, but we welcome any and all help from others.
CAROL SOBEL
counsel, ACLU Foundation
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