May 24–31, 2001

news

Surly Temple

Two Temple law alumni carry on their campaign to discredit the school’s dean.

by Senna Waldo and Frank Lewis

Take it outside: Lincoln Herbert (left) and Donald Sabatini discuss their leafletting with Temple security officers. photo: Senna Waldo

They are nothing if not persistent.

Last Thursday, former Temple University law students Lincoln Herbert and Donald Sabatini made their fourth annual visit to their alma mater for the commencement ceremony. They weren’t there to wish anyone well, however; as in past years, they were there to distribute fliers — mostly copies of news articles, including at least one from this paper — that raise questions about Dean Robert Reinstein’s leadership of the school.

And as in past years, campus police promptly intervened.

Upon spotting Herbert, a campus police officer approached and suggested "setting some ground rules," which involved keeping the leafleting outside the Liacouras Center, where the commencement was to take place. Herbert declined to negotiate, and events proceeded much as they have in the past.

Herbert and fellow alum Sabatini handed out leaflets — often blindly grasped by passersby along with the ceremony program booklets — that consisted of newspaper clippings and "biographical facts" denouncing Reinstein as a "civil rights violator."

Since 1994 Reinstein has been slapped with at least four civil rights lawsuits brought by former and contemporary Temple law students, accusing the dean of violating their right to free speech. Two of these suits were filed by Herbert — one was dismissed, the other resulted in a partial victory on appeal. A suit filed by another former student was withdrawn. The only suit still pending, filed in 1999 by Sabatini, accuses Reinstein of violating Sabatini’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by prohibiting distribution of information critical of Reinstein on Temple’s campus. (Portions of Sabatini’s original complaint already were dismissed, and the school’s attorneys succeeded in having Reinstein removed as a defendant, according to the dean. Last week Sabatini sought the court’s permission to file an amended complaint, which again names Reinstein, and which includes charges related to last year’s attempts to leaflet.)

"Last year when [campus police] told us to leave," Herbert said, "Sabatini asked them what they would do if he had the same information written on a T-shirt, or was walking around saying it aloud, would they still force him to leave?"

When Sabatini posed the same argument this year, William Bergman, chief of the campus police force, reiterated that the two couldn’t continue inside the building. A handful of other campus officers then persuaded Herbert and Sabatini outdoors.

"We’re trying to be nice to these guys," Bergman said outside the center. "They do this every year and they just can’t do it inside. They can distribute [the leaflets] outside, although we don’t want them blocking traffic, but Temple has a policy [against leafleting inside]."

In response last year to the federal suit brought by Sabatini, Temple University argued that it was not required to respect the First Amendment rights of non-students on its "private" property.

Though this suggests that Temple University can control the circulation of printed materials on campus, Temple also advertises itself as a "state-related institution," which, Herbert claims, restricts its authority to regulate expression.

"[Temple campus police] are selective about the way in which they choose to administer their policy," said Herbert, as he continued to pass out leaflets once outdoors. "They know they’re wrong."

Among the materials Herbert and Sabatini distributed this year were copies of articles they’ve handed out before, such as a 1999 City Paper cover story on the suits against Reinstein, "Uncivil Actions." But this year’s hand-out also included something new: copies of materials they sent to City College of New York, in an effort to remove Reinstein from consideration for the recently filled position of college president.

"Robert J. Reinstein is an adjudicated civil rights violator," the materials state in part (a reference to the appellate court’s ruling in one of Herbert’s cases that Reinstein had violated Herbert’s right to due process in the course of suspending him in 1994 — though the suspension was allowed to stand). "Should he be the new president of CCNY?" The three-page memo goes on to list points from the cases against Reinstein.

Martha Flores-Vazquez, a graduate student representative to the presidential search committee, says it’s "highly probable" that Herbert and Sabatini’s efforts affected Reinstein’s chances (the job went to the dean of Ohio State University’s law school). But tension between the college and its Board of Trustees, which made the decision, might also have played a role, she adds.

Reinstein, however, says it’s impossible that the materials had any impact — because he’d already taken himself out of the running for "a variety of reasons," including the need to relocate his family.

Randy Mastro, a trustee and chairman of the search committee, did not return a call before press time.

As he did in 1999, Reinstein described the suits as "a nuisance." When informed of Sabatini’s plans to amend his complaint, Reinstein confidently predicted that the court again would agree that he should not be named as a defendant.

Even if he’s right, that may not be the end of it. Among the leaflets Herbert and Sabatini handed out last week are two references to another civil rights action that may be filed "in the near future." Herbert declined to elaborate.