A ROO t^} (1 UrOLD
Supplement: March 20, 1970
VERITAS FOUR FOUND GUILTY
BY HONOR COURT WEDNESDAY
Four members of the Veritas staff
who were charged with ungentlemanlike
conduct with the regard to the writing
and/or publishing of material contain
ing obscene words were found guilty by
the Honor Court Wednesday night.
They were sentenced to a one-month
strict campus, which was suspended, and
they were put on probation for the rest
of the semester.
This means that they cannot break
any campus code or the original sentence
v;ill be imposed.
The trial began at 7 p.m. on the
second floor of Alamance Building.
Problems arose with the other members
of the Veritas staff who were summoned
to appear before the Court.
Instead of each individually appear
ing, they were asked to sign a petition
statKing, "I hereby voluntarily without
redress or coercion state that I the
undersigned am one of the publishers of
the publication known as the March 6,
1970 edition laf vol. 1, no. 1 of Veritas
Liberated Press, and as such take credit
and am responsible for all the contents
of said publication."
Each member was called up to sign
the petition; however, a question was
raised as to whether the verdict imposed
on the four would apply to these members
and would they be so charged? It was
stated that they could be charged and
sentenced in a different trial.
Many of the staff members felt
that they should be allowed in the tria
but they were denied entrance and were
asked to leave the second floor after
signing the petition.
The trial actually began at 7:30
and the verdict was reached around
10:30 after over an hour's deliberation.
About 40 people gathered in the
rotunda waiting to hear the verdict
from the four when they came downstairs.
When asked as to whether or not
the court defined obscenity. Dale
Kaufman stated, "No, they couldn’t.
They tried. Mark Jordan took a 1907
law book and defined obscenity. I don’t
know where they made their ruling from.
Professor Michael Smith, defense
counsel, was asked whether they would
appeal the case. "I cant say at this
time. I kind of doubt it since the
administration is the plaintiff and the
appeal is through- the administration,
•'I think so," Spencer replied, as
to whether or not another Veritas was
coming out. "It seems futile though,
a futile exercise." Commenting on the
case, Spencer remarked, "The case was
already prejudiced before the public s
eyes. The administration had already
made such a big to-do over the four
naughtly boys who had printed obscene
words in a newspaper and fon us to be
completely exonerated the administration
would have to lose face.__ For that reason,
the case was prejudiced.
He continued to say that there were
two members of the Court who were pre
judiced. "We had witnesses who would
iContinued on page I)