Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1968 [PAGE 522]

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470

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[March 14

Committee for Free Speech, Chicago Circle — Mr. Edward Jennings, spokesman; general student group, Urbana Campus — Mr. Robert Outis, spokesman. Following discussion and questions, on motion of Mr. Swain, the Board approved, without dissent, the report of the General Policy Committee.

Section 21 (e) of t h e G e n e r a l R u l e s of O r g a n i z a t i o n and P r o c e d u r e with R e g a r d t o t h e U s e of University P r e m i s e s for Political Speakers T h e f o l l o w i n g r e p o r t of t h e G e n e r a l P o l i c y C o m m i t t e e w a s p r e s e n t e d a n d read by t h e S e c r e t a r y . N o o n e r e q u e s t e d a h e a r i n g on this subject. The Committee on General Policy has had before it the matter of modification of Section 21 (e) of The General Rules Concerning University Organization and Procedure. The President of the University has recommended that the following changes be made (italics indicate language to be deleted) : (e) University premises and facilities, including the Assembly Hall, may be used for political purposes only when all of the following conditions arc met: (1) Official candidates for nomination or election to statewide or national office appear in person to make political addresses. (l){2) The event is sponsored by a division, department, institute, college or other administrative unit of the University, or by a student organization officially recognized by the University. (2) (3) The political party involved with which the candidate is affiliated is legal in is one which qualifies as, or is declared to be, a political party under the laws of the State of Illinois. (3) (4) The event is planned to serve an educational purpose. The Committee recommends that the changes proposed be adopted by the Board of Trustees. O n m o t i o n of M r . S w a i n , t h e B o a r d u n a n i m o u s l y a p p r o v e d t h e rep o r t of t h e C o m m i t t e e . R e c o g n i t i o n of t h e W . E . B . D u Bois Club T h e f o l l o w i n g r e p o r t of t h e G e n e r a l P o l i c y C o m m i t t e e o n t h i s q u e s t i o n w a s presented a n d read by the Secretary. On February 9, 1967, the Board of Trustees, upon recommendation of the General Policy Committee reaffirmed its position that under existing law student groups proved to be subversive or seditious (i.e., to advocate the violent overthrow of the United States or of the state of Illinois) should not be given the privileges associated with "recognition" by the University. In clearing the way for administrative approval of a campus W.E.B. Du Bois Club while a national organization with the same name is under charge by the Attorney General of the United States of being a Communist front, the Board acted on the assumption that there is no link, formal or informal, between the local and the national group. Since February 9, the members of the Board of Trustees have been informed by the Dean of Students at Urbana-Champaign, through the President, that informal connections have been found to exist between the local and the national, including interlocking memberships and that the national officers acknowdedge the interconnections. In view of the information now before the Board, the General Policy Committee recommends that the Administration be requested not to approve the petition from the local student group. T h e f o l l o w i n g g r o u p s w e r e h e a r d ; all of t h e m p r e s e n t i n g a r g u m e n t s in f a v o r of r e c o g n i t i o n of t h e c l u b : U r b a n a Senate Committee on S t u d e n t Affairs — P r o f e s s o r Sheldon Plager. I n addition, a petition, sponsored by the S t u d e n t Senate ( U r b a n a ) a n d s i g n e d b y 1,973 s t u d e n t s , in s u p p o r t of r e c o g n i t i o n of the D u Bois Club, w a s received a n d read.