2 High Schools Bar Students’ Amnesty International Units

Officials at two south Orange County high schools, Dana Hills and Capistrano Valley, have refused to allow students to form on-campus chapters of Amnesty International, the Nobel-prize-winning human rights organization, because it does not fit into the school curriculum.

Although more than 1,000 public schools nationwide have formed Amnesty International chapters, including seven in Orange County, officials at the two south county schools said they do not open campus facilities to non-academic groups during school hours.

The district adopted its current policy 5 years ago after a number of religious groups started meeting during class hours, said trustee Ted Kopp of the Capistrano Unified School District.

‘Have to Draw the Line’

“It’s basically to meet the law, to separate church and state, if you will,” Kopp said. “We have to draw the line somewhere. Our policy is that any group can use the campus before and after school.”

However, the student organizers feel that Amnesty International relates to their curriculum and that they should be allowed to meet during school hours.

“We feel this group is very educational and is creating great public awareness, and we think we should be allowed,” said Natalie Pierce, 18, a senior at Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo, who requested a campus chapter in September.

Pierce and fellow organizer Chris Bergerud, 17, a Dana Hills senior, have appealed the decisions of their principals to the Capistrano Unified School District’s board of trustees, which is scheduled to consider the matter at a March 6 meeting.

Dozens of students are expected to turn out, as well as sympathetic adult leaders of Amnesty International and members of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“I just think they (school officials) need to understand more exactly what Amnesty is all about,” said Bergerud. “It is impartial and an apolitical organization.”

Amnesty International works to free prisoners of conscience and upgrade their treatment while in custody in such Third World countries as Turkey, Pakistan and Chile, Amnesty regional director David Hinkley said Tuesday. He added that it has a worldwide membership of 700,000 people, including about 300,000 in the United States.

Although the organization was formed in 1961, student interest in it took off just 2 years ago after an Amnesty-sponsored “Conspiracy of Hope” rock concert tour which featured such popular entertainers as U2, Sting and Peter Gabriel. Last year’s Amnesty-sponsored “Human Rights Now!” rock tour was headlined by Bruce Springsteen.

Bergerud and Pierce already have formed off-campus Amnesty chapters. Fifty-six students are members of the Dana Hills High School chapter, and there are 65 members in the Capistrano Valley High School chapter, the students said.

“I don’t think anyone has feelings pro or con on an official basis about Amnesty International, but it’s just that from a legal standpoint, we could not do it,” Dana Hills Principal John Smart said Tuesday.

Smart added that the school district has also banned student chapters of such civic clubs as Kiwanis and Rotary because they are not part of the curriculum. A spokesman for Capistrano Valley High School could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

But Bergerud and Pierce have argued that Amnesty should be part of school life because the California Board of Education requires human rights education by high schools. Amnesty, Bergerud added, teaches students to respect human rights.

“Amnesty International . . . is simply not a radical, partisan or biased organization,” Bergerud, who is also editor of his campus newspaper, said in a recent editorial column. “AI members are proud to be fighting for the basic rights of others and know they have the right to meet on campus during school with the full cooperation of the school and board of trustees.”

While student Amnesty members are not allowed to “adopt” prisoners, as their adult counterparts do, they are encouraged to write letters on behalf of the prisoners to leaders of foreign governments and to participate in public education programs about the program.

Formation of Amnesty campus chapters has met little resistance nationwide, Amnesty director Hinkley said.

In the western United States, Hinkley said, he knows of only two other instances--at a high school in Van Nuys and at a middle school in Oregon--that school officials have tried to block new chapters. The Van Nuys high school recently acquiesced in the face of heavy publicity, and the Oregon middle school case is currently being pressed.

Bergerud said he was initially attracted to Amnesty last year because it offered him and his fellow students an opportunity to help others.

‘Honestly Helping People’

“It’s one of the few things that someone my age can do that can honestly make a difference,” Bergerud said Tuesday. “You’re honestly helping people on the other side of the world. I have seen what a difference a letter can make.”

Pierce said she was drawn to the organization because she considered it educational.

Although high school students can form Amnesty chapters off campus, Bergerud said he asked to form one on campus so that members could meet more conveniently and so that meeting times and announcements could be posted on the school bulletin board.

But school trustee Kopp said the group could meet on campus half an hour before class or half an hour afterwards.

“Really, lunch period is the only time during the (school) day they could meet,” Kopp said.

Bergerud, however, said it is difficult to get students together during off-school hours.

After running into roadblocks from the school district, Bergerud and Pierce contacted Amnesty officials in Orange County for assistance.

“I believe there is a big issue at stake,” said Joan Marcus-Colvin, Amnesty membership coordinator for Orange County. “We now have young people who are committed and educated to human rights work, and having a school district that is disallowing this kind of activity is a detriment to our youth.”