Opinion ID: 470078
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Reasonableness Test

Text: 37 The Board claims that its exclusion of CARD from the newspapers was reasonable and therefore constitutional, and offers three arguments in support of this conclusion. First, the Board claims that pursuant to the District's Publications Code, the Board may, in its discretion, restrict publication of ads proffered by non-student entities to non-political advertisements offering goods, services or vocational opportunities to students. Second, the Board urges that its refusal of CARD's advertisement was lawful because publication of the ad would have amounted to advocacy of an illegal act. Third, the Board claims, relying principally on its Publications Code, that because publication of CARD's advertisement would have necessarily reduced the space available to students to express themselves, the rejection of the ad was lawful.
38 We have already demonstrated the fallacy in the Board's first argument. As discussed above, p. 1477, the military recruitment advertisements were of a mixed political and commercial character. CARD's ad pertained to the same topic, and like the recruitment ads, offered goods, services, or vocational opportunities to students. See supra note 8. Because CARD's ad dealt with the same politically controversial topic as previously-published ads, the political character of the ad did not provide a reasonable basis for excluding it from the newspapers.
39 The Board urges the prospect of illegal conduct as a reason not to publish CARD's advertisement. In the Board's view, its publication would amount to advocacy of non-registration--an illegal act. 40 We agree, of course, that the Board has a strong interest in promoting law abiding conduct among its students. But we are unable to conclude that its prohibiting the publication of CARD's advertisement serves this interest. The Board bases its argument on the fact that the organization has styled itself The Committee Against Registration and the Draft. The Board further contends that the advertisement, when viewed in its entirety, advocates non-registration. 41 That the organization's name implies opposition to a particular law is not, in our view, sufficient to support a conclusion that the organization advocates unlawful conduct. Moreover, there is nothing in the text of the advertisement suggesting that CARD encourages non-registration. See supra, note 1. In fact, the record discloses that according to Superintendent Pyle the Board had no evidence that the purpose of the advertisement was to stop students from registering, and that the Board had derived such intent solely from a reading of the organization's name. 42 It is true that a state may act to prohibit individuals from advocating violations of the law when such advocacy is directed toward inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to accomplish that objective. See Brandenberg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444, 447, 89 S.Ct. 1827, 1829, 23 L.Ed.2d 430 (1969). But, in our system, undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance is not enough to overcome the right to freedom of expression. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503, 508, 89 S.Ct. 733, 737, 21 L.Ed.2d 731 (1969). Mere speculation on the part of the state that individuals might at some time engage in illegal activity is insufficient to justify regulation. Gay Students Organization v. Bonner, 509 F.2d 652, 662 (1st Cir.1974). 43 The Board's conclusion that publication of CARD's advertisement would result in unlawful conduct was, at best, speculative. The record is devoid of any evidence that CARD advocated illegal conduct or that publication of the advertisement was likely to give rise to such conduct. To the contrary, the record indicates that CARD, through its advertisement, sought to apprise eligible students of legitimate and lawful alternatives to the draft, such as the availability of student deferments. Accordingly, we conclude that the Board's fear of illegal advocacy did not provide a reasonable basis for excluding CARD from the newspapers.
44 Finally, the Board contends that its refusal to publish CARD's advertisement is justified by its interest, reflected in its Publications Code, in providing its students with a forum for free expression. The Board claims that excluding material written or sponsored by outsiders such as CARD from its student newspapers increases the students' opportunities to express themselves in print. We acknowledge, and the parties do not dispute, that the Board may, in light of various practical constraints, prohibit or impose limits on the amount of material from non-students that may be published in student newspapers. However, any such restriction may not be arbitrary or unreasonable. See Cornelius. The Board has offered no valid reason that distinguishes the reduction in student opportunities for freedom of expression due to publication of the recruitment ads from the reduction that would occur from publication of CARD's advertisement; nor does the Board suggest that there is any objective system for limiting the number of ads or choosing among ads concerning the same general subject or relating to the same type of service or vocation. The differentiation in treatment between CARD's ad and the military's was thus arbitrary and as a result impermissible. Accordingly, we hold that the Board's policy on student self-expression did not provide a reasonable basis for excluding CARD from its newspapers.
45 The Board has failed to advance any reasonable grounds for excluding CARD's advertisement from the newspapers. 10 Accordingly, even if we assume that the newspapers are a nonpublic forum, that is, the type of forum which receives the least protection under the First Amendment, we must conclude that the Board violated the guarantees of that amendment when it prevented the publication of CARD's advertisement. See Cornelius, 105 S.Ct. at 3448. 11