For many decades the New York Civil Liberties Union was admired by many as an organization which fought to preserve the democratic rights of all citizens, especially those whose rights were threatened by "the mob" because of unpopular views and affiliations. Unfortunately, within the last few years, the NYCLU seems to have abandoned its traditional role as defender of democratic procedures and has instead become involved as a combatant in substantive political struggles.
The first sign of this change came during the 1968 school strike with the issuance of its pamphlet. "The Burden of Blame," in which the NYCLU refused to support due process for teachers on the ground that the United Federation of Teachers was "using" the due process issue to destroy community control. Thus, the NYCLU placed itself in the untenable position of arguing that, while communists, Nazis and fascists have a legal and moral right to free speech, assembly and due process no matter what their motives, teachers and their union should be denied these rights unless their motives were pure.
That the NYCLU is continuing along this path can be seen in the New York Times article of February 19 headlined "Illegal Suspensions of Public School Pupils Charged by Civil Liberties Union." The story, written by Leonard Buder, summarizes the latest NYCLU "study":
"The New York Civil Liberties Union accused city school districts yesterday of a 'flagrant disregard' of their own regulations and of state law in improperly or illegally suspending many pupils from school. "The organization said a study of 115 cases -- taken from among the 14,000 official suspensions imposed last year in the city system -- found that in77 per cent of the cases examined, students were suspended for illegal reasons such as putting up a black liberation flag, wandering in the halls, arguing with a teacher or being late for school.
"In 99 per cent of the cases studied, the organization asserted, neither the students nor their parents were told of the specific re son for the suspensions, even though a Board of Education bylaw required such an explanation."
Since the total number of suspensions in New York City last year was 14,000, the clear impression is left that over 10,000 students had been illegally suspended. A closer reading of the item leads to a very different conclusion, in light of the fact that the 115 cases studied by the NYCLU were not a random or representative sample. On the contrary, they were chosen precisely because all were suspect, in that a specific complaint had been filed against each. By way of analogy, the NYCLU study method is as accurate as would be a study of the general population of the city based on a sample drawn exclusively from names found on police blotters!
Defender Turns Attacker
It is interesting to note the pains taken by NYCLU to dredge up these cases. The organization did not rest content with the cases originally directed to them. On the contrary, it solicited additional causes celebes from like-minded organizations. Despite all its efforts, however, the findings were quite meager. NYCLU actually found complaints against less than one per cent of the year's suspension case, and almost a quarter of these was wholly lacking in substance.
What are the real findings of this study? They show that in a tiny minority of cases (0.6 of one percent, to be precise) surveyed by the New York Civil Liberties Union; school administrators did not adhere rigidly to the prescribed procedures. Relatively few principals, of course, are lawyers. And all are busy men these days. In light of the very real and urgent problems that confront them, this record is not one for which they should be condemned. On the contrary, they should be congratulated for their self-discipline and for the scrupulous care they have exercised to preserve their charges rights.
In short, the proper conclusion to be drawn from the NYCLU study is that the high school principals of New York are conducting themselves admirably in the face of highly adverse circumstances. These circumstances include confrontations and crises the like of which have never before been witnessed in the history of public education in this country.
Attacking the Board of Education, the bureaucracy, teachers, principals and the UFT is a popular sport. It is regrettable that the New York Civil Liberties Union has decided that it is more fun to join "the mob" in the attack than to continue in the unpopular role of defending the civil liberties of those with whose views it may disagree.