In January,1936, the University of Minnesota announced extreme measures to control students’ access to information about activities and events by limiting notices to only nine bulletin boards on the entire campus. All information had to be approved by the dean of student affairs. Dean Nicholson also took control of the University of Minnesota postal system as the sole authority of what mail could be distributed to students or faculty. He forbade mail to be delivered that he deemed lacked interest to students, and refused to allow organizations he did not authorize to send information of any type to students. The Progressive Council sued the dean unsuccessfully to stop his control of first class mail.