A Federal court ruled Wednesday that funds for the operation of a campus newspaper cannot be cut off solely because college officials disagree with the newspaper's editorial opinions.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down its ruling in the case of The Campus Echo, the student newspaper of North Carolina Central University (NCCU), which editorially opposed the increasing flow of white students into the predominantly black, state-supported university in Durham, N.C.

NCCU President Albert N. Whiting terminated state funds for publication of The Echo on the grounds that its editorial policy was racist and failed to "represent fairly the full spectrum of views" on the campus.

'No Apparent Danger'

The Fourth Circuit Court, reversing the decision of a Federal District court in Greensboro, N.C., said The Echo editorial posed "no apparent danger of physical violence or disruption" at the university, and thus could not be suppressed.

Chief Judge Clement F. Haynsworth said yesterday that Whiting's action amounted to unlawful suppression of students, and violated the paper's first amendment rights.

Whiting said that North Carolina Central, a 63-year-old institution with about 3500 students, "is not a 'black university' and does not intend to become one."

"They (college administrators) can't withhold funds just because they don't like what a campus paper prints," Haynsworth said.

Administrators have deprived campus newspapers of funds or facilities because of their editorial positions at several universities, including the University of Florida and the University of California at Berkeley in recent years.

Haynsworth said that the ruling will represent an important precedent in such cases, but only at those colleges which are connected with state governments.

"This ruling can be used in a dispute between a campus newspaper and a college only if it can be shown that the state is somehow involved with the college," Haynsworth said.

Haynsworth and Judge John D. Butzner Jr. made up the majority in the 2-1 decision, with Judge John A. Field Jr. dissenting.

President Nixon nominated Haynsworth to the Supreme Court in 1969.