Yale Lit Magazine Loses Name in University Suit

A state court ruled in favor of Yale University last week, with a decision backing the university's suit to deny a privately-owned literary magazine the use of the name "Yale" in its title.

New Haven superior court Judge Howard F. Zoarski ruled that The Yale Literary Magazine must continue publication under a different name because the magazine's editors had not complied with the university's rules.

The decision came after nearly two years of debate between the university and the magazine's editors. But the magazine publishers will appeal the decision and prolong the dispute, according to Kathleen K. Kilpatrick, director of the American Literary Society, the corporation which funds the magazine.

The controversy began in 1978 when Andrei Navrozov, a Yale graduate, purchased the floundering magazine from a group of undergraduates when it was almost bankrupt for a price of $1.

Nomenclature

When the university ordered the magazine to stop using the name "Yale" in its title because it had not been registered as an official undergraduate organization, the magazine sued the university to keep its name.

The university followed with a countersuit, stating that the magazine did not have the right to use the "Yale" name because most of its contributors were non-students. The magazine has solicited outside contributions ever since Navrozov's purchase in 1978, and its present editorial policy is generally considered very conservative.

A major concern of the university was that undergraduates were being denied the opportunity to fully participate on the magazine.

Robert W. Savage, a Yale senior who has been part of the magazine since his sophomore year, said that the lawsuit was started because the magazine's "political outlook is different from the outlook of the university." He added that the "university is deciding for students what kind of magazines are appropriate and what kinds are inappropriate."

Lindsey Kiang, Yale's general counsel, called Judge Zoarski's decision, "a confirmation of the University's basic claim that undergraduate organizations must be controlled by undergraduates."

A Ploy

During the trial Navrozov resigned as President of the American Literary Society, in what Kiang called "a play" to avoid testifying.

Navrozov could not be reached for comment, but Kilpatrick said that Navrozov refused to testify because he was denied "due process" when Judge Zoarski denied the magazine the aid of a second lawyer, Robert D'Agastino.

According to Kilpatrick, Navrozov was protesting the exclusion of D'Agastino whose removal "decapitated the defense team in an outrageous way." Kilpatrick said the trial was "a charade from beginning to end."