Possible Suspension of Publications Cited in School Censorship Battle

A civil rights lawyer who contends that it is unlawful for school officials to censor student newspapers acknowledged Wednesday that if he wins his case, many schools may discontinue the publications.

“I think that’s a real problem,” said Gary L. Williams, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney who is challenging the authority of school officials in Garden Grove to ban a high school newspaper that they claimed contained false statements. “It’s definitely something that might happen.”

But in arguments before state appellate justices in Santa Ana, Williams said such potential effects should not be considered in deciding whether a state law allowing censorship of student publications is constitutional.

Lengthy Fight

The three-year legal battle has drawn the interest of the California School Boards Assn., a group representing 895 local school districts and about 5,000 elected board members across the state.

The ACLU position “would place school districts in a potentially disastrous situation,” according to papers filed by the association in the case. School districts would have no control over the contents of student publications, but would remain responsible for any damage done, association lawyers said.

At issue is a decision by James DeLong, principal of Rancho Alamitos High School, to confiscate all copies of “La Voz Del Vaquero” before its distribution April 2, 1984.

‘Playboy Talent Hunt’

DeLong found “inappropriate” and potentially “libelous” a jesting article reporting that Playboy magazine was interviewing candidates for a photo feature titled “The Girls of Rancho.” Illustrating the story was a photograph of five fully clad female students said to be “lining up for the Playboy talent hunt.”

The April Fools Day issue was traditionally a cover-to-cover spoof. It contained reports that singing star Michael Jackson would perform at a school concert, that the Los Angeles Raiders had scheduled a football game against the school team, and that Spring Break had been canceled.

With ACLU help, newspaper editor David Leeb went to court, requesting that DeLong be ordered to distribute the already-printed edition. Orange County Superior Court Judge Philip E. Schwab refused, and the ACLU’s Williams appealed to the 4th District Court of Appeal.

A state statute specifically allows school districts to censor student publications containing “obscene, libelous or slanderous” material or statements that would cause “substantial disruption” of school operations.

Other Cases Cited

In arguments before the court, Garden Grove lawyer Ronald D. Wenkart cited a series of cases in which censorship by school officials was approved elsewhere in the United States. School boards may prohibit surveys of students’ sexual habits, bar publications containing ads for drug paraphernalia and censor publications that contain false attacks on the character of student politicians, Wenkart argued.

Wenkart argued that school officials must protect the district against publications that could lead to lawsuits.

The law properly allows officials to “protect the taxpayer funds from civil suits resulting from the publication of defamatory articles written by immature high school students,” according to Wenkart.

The appellate justices took the case under submission.