The action of the University of Maryland in barring a student who objected upon religious grounds to the compulsory military training constituted an illegal religious test, Judge Joseph N. Ulman ruled in ordering the student reinstated.
His decision was handed down in a mandamus action brought against the university by Ennis H. Coale, one of two students dropped from the institution when they raised questions of conscience and religion against the required military drills.
“If religious conscientious objectors are excluded from their State-supported university except upon pain of relinquishing their religious beliefs and principles, then a religious test has been imposed as a condition of their enjoyment of its educational privileges,” Judge Ulman ruled.
Willis R. Jones, Assistant Attorney General of Maryland, who represented the University, declared that the college would appeal the case to the Maryland Court of Appeals.
Reuben Oppenheimer and John Henry Skeen, attorneys for Coale, also had planned to appeal if the decision had not been in their favor.
Among those who fought for the reinstatement of Coale was the Rev. Dr. Edward L. Israel, rabbi of the Har Sinai Temple.
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