PAST LIVES

Enemies J.d. Arnold, a Santa Fe tour operator (and former aide to then-congressman JIM MATTOX), made headlines in October when he suddenly remembered having seen Ann Richards use cocaine at the Stoneleigh P 13 years ago. But Arnold has another claim to fame: he may be the only person ever banned from SMU.

In October of 1967, Arnold became head of the SMU chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, just after the group had been disbanded in the wake of an investigation by Dallas Congressman JOE POOL, who suspected that SDS might harbor communists and draft dodgers.

In the meantime, an “alternative” newspaper titled Notes from the Underground was started that year as part of the Underground Press Syndicate. SMU’s president, the late WILLIS TATE, promptly banned the sale, and later the distribution, of U.P.S. publications.

The two controversies came together on November 9, 1967, as Arnold was cited by the university for distributing the banned Notes on campus despite repeated warnings from on-hand administrators. On November 20, Arnold was suspended from the university until May 1968. The Faculty Senate denied an appeal, and he was banned from campus on November 30-nine days before his finals.

Then Arnold, represented by the ACLU (ironically, he also consulted with lawyer DAVE RICHARDS, who was then married to Ann Richards) sued SMU in Federal District court. He agreed to a judgment that allowed him to take his finals, and then voluntarily withdraw from the school-forever. In turn, SMU agreed to remove any mention of the problems from his transcripts and papers.