Liberties Group Requests Inquiry of Stadium Sign Ban

The Civil Liberties Union of Harvard (CLUH) is calling for an official investigation of police refusal last month to allow students with political signs into a Harvard Stadium event.

CLUH president Neil Segall '90 said that the group sent a letter yesterday to Vice President and General Counsel Daniel Steiner '54 requesting that he investigate the incident.

Steiner could not be reached for comment.

"If the basis for the policeman's action was content-based, rather than form-based, then it appears that the incident is clearly a First Amendment issue involving free political expression...We urge General Counsel to look into this University rule and the policeman's conduct," Segall said.

A Harvard police officer denied Linda D. Rottenberg '90 and Chris Morris '89, co-chairs of Harvard Students for Dukakis-Bentsen, entrance into the October 9 Cornell-Harvard football game, citing a rule prohibiting political campaign materials other than buttons within the stadium.

Rottenberg and Morris said they were carrying Dukakis-Bentsen signs, which they planned to distribute to supporters when Harry Ellis Dickson, Kitty Dukakis' father and a former conductor of the Boston Pops, directed the Harvard Band at halftime. When Morris left with the signs, Rottenberg, who was carrying a closed bag of campaign T-shirts, was again prevented from entering the stadium.

Segall stated in a letter to The Crimson, "If a policy preventing political expression at athletic events does indeed exist, it should be abolished. Harvard, as an institution dedicated to the values of openness and free inquiry, should strive to end all censorship, whether it be in academic or athletic arenas."

Roderick MacLeish, general counsel for the Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said, "If the act was clearly done in a way which would disrupt the game, one could argue against it; but one has to see whether it was in accordance with reasonable considerations of time, place and manner. It seems to be something very compatible with a halftime show."

Greg Lapidus, a third year Harvard law student and the president of the Harvard Committee for Sports and Entertainment Law, said, "There is nothing particular about a sports arena that would give it more or less protection for speech. Unless the signs were so large as to be disruptive, then they seem clearly protected on the grounds of the First Amendment."

Segall said that CLUH will wait for Steiner's response before taking further action in the matter. If laws prohibiting political expression during games do exist, the organization will advocate their elimination; if no such laws are in place, said Segall, CLUH will demand that the University apologize to Rottenberg and Morris.