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Papish v. Board of Curators of the University of Missouri
Citations: 35 L. Ed. 2d 618; 93 S. Ct. 1197; 410 U.S. 667; 1973 U.S. LEXIS 93Docket: 72-794
Court: Supreme Court of the United States; March 19, 1973; Federal Supreme Court; Federal Appellate Court
A graduate student at the University of Missouri School of Journalism was expelled for distributing a newspaper, the Free Press Underground, which contained indecent speech, violating a university bylaw. This particular issue featured a political cartoon of policemen raping the Statue of Liberty and Goddess of Justice, and an article about a youth's trial and acquittal related to an assault charge. The Student Conduct Committee found the student had violated the university's standards of conduct. After her expulsion was affirmed by the Chancellor and the Board of Curators, she sought declaratory and injunctive relief in federal court, arguing her expulsion violated her First Amendment rights. The District Court denied relief, suggesting the newspaper might be obscene, a point the Court of Appeals did not address directly; instead, it asserted that a university could prioritize conventions of decency over freedom of expression on campus. However, the court acknowledged that the Constitution does not require a university to allow all publications and that the university’s actions could be seen as enforcing reasonable regulations. Despite this, the facts indicated the expulsion was based on the content of the newspaper rather than the distribution's time, place, or manner. The case occurred shortly before the Supreme Court's decision in Healy v. James, which emphasized that state universities are not exempt from First Amendment protections. The Supreme Court indicated that the dissemination of ideas, no matter how distasteful, cannot be prohibited solely on the grounds of decency conventions, and recent precedents suggest the cartoon and article in question are constitutionally protected. The First Amendment prohibits the implementation of a dual standard for speech in academia, and the state University's actions regarding the petitioner cannot be justified as applying reasonable, nondiscriminatory conduct rules. Accordingly, the judgments of the lower courts are reversed, and the petition for a writ of certiorari is granted. The case is remanded to the District Court with instructions to restore any course credits earned by the petitioner for the semester in question and to reinstate her in the graduate program unless valid academic reasons exist to bar her reinstatement. The University had a bylaw obligating students to conduct themselves in a manner compatible with its educational mission, which included prohibitions against indecent conduct or speech. The petitioner, Miss Papish, was a 32-year-old graduate student on academic and disciplinary probation when she disseminated literature that was deemed to contain 'pornographic, indecent and obscene words.' This act occurred during a time when the University was hosting high school seniors and their parents. Despite the University's dissatisfaction with her performance, the court emphasized that this did not justify the violation of her constitutional rights. The District Court had previously ruled that the petitioner, being a nonresident of Missouri, could not claim rights regarding her dismissal, a rationale deemed inconsistent with precedent. The Court of Appeals affirmed on different grounds but noted that the charge against the petitioner was unrelated to the manner of distribution of the newspaper but focused on its content. Notably, it was established that no disruption of University functions occurred due to the distribution of the literature. Thus, the critical issue was whether the state university could prohibit this form of expression without valid grounds for doing so.