content. Whether a sludenl legislative body can do so remains an open ques lion. The editors and adviser of Ihe Pikes Peak Community Colle ge News aim t o nnd oul. In a blockbusting test case wit h tre mendous precedential implications, t hey have filed suit in U.S. Distr ict Court to restore funding to the News. Former editor Martha Dyer-Allison, editor Vicky Evans, assistant edi tor Marie Moon and adviser Judith Olson seek to reverse a decision by the Pikes Peak s tudent senate to remove the
News from the senatoriaJ -an d thus the college-budget. Filed August 10, it is the firsl case in which a newspaper has chall�nged a subsidy cut off by a studenl governmenl. It is the inevitable result of an unfor LUnate trend. Tighten enough financial nooses around the throats of enough student papers and, eventually, some where, somebody will go after an in junction. Even against fellow stu dents-popularly elected leaders. At this Colorado community col lege, a war of allrition -dating back to 1976-between the News and the senate and administration climaxed in a 5-3 vote by the senate last June 10 end the paper's $12,400 subsidy. There was no prior announcement that the subject would be broached, no repre sentative of the News to defend the funding. Just a terse resolution that the Pikes Peak News "projected negative content," was "libelous," "inaccur ate," and "not represenlative of the students," and would no longer have the privilege 0 f senate support. After all, t he senate doesn'l have to VOle subsidies 10 a publication wilh which il fundamenlally disagrees, right? Wrong, say spokesmen for the News. Attorneys Donald K in g and Larry Hobbs, representing, respective ly, the student editors and adviser Olson, argue that t he same principle that prevents administrators from cut ling funds becaus e of con tent also stops student governments. ..
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The principle, contend King and Hobbs. is I h at a state may not regulate free expression in an established for um. (See. Legal Analysis, p. 43). But how can the ac tions of a student senate be the actions of a state? Because, say the two attorneys, the money con trolled by the senate is derived from student fees-and the Color ado Attor ney General s office issued an opinion last year that student fees are state funds. Besides which, they sa y the sen ate's budget must be approved by the school's ad m inistrati on and the State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education. Having received no response to a let ter of protest to the state board. Hobbs and King filed suit against the entire budgelary hierarchy-the student sen ate, Pikes Peak college council, school administrat i on and state board. Colorado Assistant Attorney Gen eral JoAnn Soker, who will defend against Ihe suit, said before the action was filed tha i it is by no means clear that the senate's funding cut off was a state action. "Thus far I have yel to find a case that answers that ques tio n Soker said. "I do not agree that [use of state funds] is neces sa r ily a state action . The assistan t attorney general said she would not discuss her legal reasoning because of the likelihood of litigation. According 10 News adviser Judy Olson, the suil is an outgrowth of a dis pute with the studen t senate and the '
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school administration that has been festering for over three years. " There has been harassment since the spring of 1976." says Olson. "The editor then discovered that three administrators had been fired without due process, and the president was forced to rein st at e them. From t hen on, the president wanted to scrutinize all copy, but the editor refused. So in the fall, t he presidenl Iried to change the college publication policy from 'no censor ship' to 'no unwarranted censorship.' He withd rew the attempt when the faculty student governing council dis covered this 'typographical' change." After that, Olson says, the paper be gan receiving more and m ore criticism for its alleged "negativism." In de fense of the News, Olson vent u res the opinion that "it '5 a fairly decent paper"-it has won 67 awards in the past five years-but says it's "not a PR sheet for the college ... Nor does the adviser believe the stu dent senate acted on its own. "The sen ate vote was d irectly influenced by the administration," she charges. "They have been trying 10 quiet Ihis paper . (Vice-President John Rodwick] has been working privately with various senat ors and making disparaging re marks, lot ally uncalled-for comments aboUI the paper, staff, and me." Rodwick, for his part, mak es no se cret of his disli ke for t he News. He told the Colorado Springs Sun, "There is enough feeling on campus that the ad viser to the n e wspa per is not doing her job properly-that her personal opin ions are affecting what is being written. We are dealt with with contempt by Mrs. Olson and her students." Rod wick called Ihe senate's withdrawal of sub si dy a "courageous" sland. Nonetheless, Rodwick maintains -
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Fall1979
SPLC Report
7