From Draft NOtices, April-June 2021
COMD Settles High School Lawsuit
NOTE: The following article appeared in the May-June 1987 issue of Draft NOtices. We are reprinting it now because of its continued relevance to contemporary efforts to counter the presence of military recruiters in schools.
"The subject of. military service is controversial and political in nature." So stated the Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a landmark 1986 decision securing the right of peace groups to have access to student newspapers on an equal basis with military recruiters and Selective Service.
That ruling, won by COMD in its civil rights lawsuit against the Grossmont Union High School District, set the stage for a negotiated settlement with the school district that was made official on April 6, 1987. The comprehensive settlement enforces COMD's right to run ads in all nine of the Grossmont High School District student newspapers. It further requires the district to post copies of the appellate court's decision in its high school journalism classrooms and distribute copies of the decision to district faculty journalism advisors. COMD was also awarded a total of $13,000. The bulk of this sum, $12,000, is going to cover legal costs. $1,000 will go directly to COMD as reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses tied to the lawsuit, i.e., filing fees, xeroxing, postage, and phone calls. Damages were not requested because it was never intended that any money be received as a result of this lawsuit other than for COMD expenses. This position was adopted by COMD so as not to take money away from vitally needed educational services.
COMD believes the settlement also supports the right of high school student journalists to be free from arbitrary interference by school administrators in deciding the content of their publications.
The original lawsuit was brought in 1983 by COMD, then called the San Diego Committee Against Registration and the Draft, after the Grossmont District banned COMD's ad from all nine of its student newspapers. The ad encouraged students to know their rights and options regarding draft registration. The school district, however, claimed the ad advocated nonregistration--an illegal act. Student journalists who had wanted to run the ad were prevented from doing so.
In overturning an initial Federal District Court decision upholding the ad ban, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the school district created a "limited public forum" when it allowed military recruiters and Selective Service to run ads in student papers. Once such a forum is created, the Court said, the school district could not exclude the opposing viewpoint, i.e., COMD ads.
The Court expressly recognized the political and controversial nature of military service. It referred to the history of opposition in this country to the draft and military service in general, particularly on college campuses during the late Sixties and early Seventies.
Subsequent to the Ninth Circuit decision, the school district petitioned for a rehearing, and the U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the U.S. Army, moved to intervene in the case. Both the petition for rehearing and the motion to intervene at the appellate level were denied.
Presently, COMD has submitted a new ad for placement in all nine Grossmont District high school newspapers. Ads should run before the end of the school term.
Implications of equal access
This lawsuit and its outcome should be viewed in the larger context of the movement to challenge the increasing militarization of our society. As military ideals and solutions continue to pervade all sectors of civilian life, young people increasingly become targets for recruiters and militaristic manipulation. 1.7 billion federal tax dollars will be spent this fiscal year on recruitment alone.
In high schools, the military is promoted as the answer to lack of available jobs, educational opportunities, and job training. Intermingled with this is the assertion that military service is the path to adulthood and an expression of patriotism. A more subtle implication is that violence and military solutions are the preferred manners for dealing with conflicts.
In order to promote the military, recruiters are given assured access to high school students through career centers, guidance counselor offices, classrooms, job fairs, and student newspapers.
To young people facing some of the most important decisions of their lives, access to only the military's message can have devastating and irreparable consequences. On a larger scale, the potential exists for the militarization of an entire generation, again with devastating consequences.
Organizations around the country are attempting to counter this by providing alternative information on issues of peace, military service, the draft, and other vital concerns.
When schools exclude such alternative views they become accomplices in the militarization process. Institutions ostensibly created to educate and give students the skills to make informed decisions act instead to suppress their ability to think critically and act responsibly.
The importance of access to young people is acknowledged by the military themselves in their attempts to intervene in equal access disputes.
After successfully intervening in a similar lawsuit presently underway in Atlanta, GA, the U.S. Department of Justice is arguing on behalf of the various branches of the military that they should be given "preferential access" to students. In effect, the military is claiming it has the right to veto the First Amendment rights of civilians in order to promote its own interests; that public schools should be designated recruiting grounds free from "interference" by peace groups.
The danger of this development, i.e., that the DOJ and the military would publicly assert such a view and that a federal court would even entertain it, is obvious and demonstrates the degree to which society has become militarized.
While such equal access actions by peace groups are important, ultimately the struggle against the further militarization of our society will not be won in the courts. It will have to be waged and won in our communities, workplaces, and schools.
Important 2021 postscripts:
1. A later Supreme Court decision held that a high school-sponsored student newspaper is a non-public forum and, thus, can be subject to administrative control over content. But the ruling did not disturb the 9th Circuit's finding that even in the case of a non-public forum, equal access cannot be denied based on viewpoint discrimination.
2. After failing to intervene in the San Diego CARD case, the military made it known that it intended to look for similar equal access lawsuits in the future that would enable it to intervene and use a Supreme Court appeal to overturn the 1980s equal access victories by counter-recruitment groups. To avoid handing the military that opportunity, groups wanting to seek equal school access today are strongly urged to first contact COMD for advice on best practices for pursuing such a goal (email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Also, for examples of what can be done with school access, visit the Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities, www.projectyano.org, and National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth, www.nnomy.org.
This article is from Draft NOtices, the newsletter of the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (http://www.comdsd.org/index.php/draft-notices).
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