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Abstract: As the number and vehemence of campus confrontations have spiraled upward, university administrations have placed increasing reliance on injunctions to quiet the turmoil. In November 1967, the University of Wisconsin secured a temporary injunction-the first of its kind-to restrain students from interfering with job recruitment interviews on the university's Madison campus. During the next year fifty-three injunctions against allegedly disruptive student behavior were granted to universities, and, since then, the pace has continued unabated. As with the fields of labor relations and civil rights, equity, that “gloss written ‘round our code,’“ has acquired a new look.
This article explores what limitations should be placed on the emerging technique of campus crisis management by injunction. The enjoining of student protest activities in universities is viewed from three perspectives: first, the power of equity to intercede on behalf of a university administration; second, the extent to which the First Amendment protects student protests from restraint by injunction; and, third, the factors which influence the effectiveness of the injunctive remedy in providing temporary relief from student disruptions. On the basis of this analysis, a series of guidelines for the deployment of campus injunctions will be delineated.
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