Spring 1996 Vol. XVII. No.2
Will Students Be Forced to Detour 00 the futemet?
EDITOR
CONTE NTS
Sora Cra wford Troy Slote l.Wv9lllty
COVER. STORY New federal law attempts to cootroI on-line info
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Claire Goldstein DePouw UtWenIIy Stephanie lewis Ametlcon UnlvMl1y
NaI\or'Ia
COVER ART MOIfV\ ArQ'>&
Jim Brondel'$O$ WrrI$ Bewer 8vrgratt wayn<J ClIl.I'Ig 89n
-
Jack Dickason
ART
Rodney CoNey Jim D&igot11
CotI"Ieme Gfommon PJ Hruschoi< SIIaI K&nddI PoU KInIeIIo
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ADVERTISING
CONTRIBUTORS Arl Kaplan The Geo<g& �on LWv� low Cen'El<
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MatshcJI [)ovid Md<Im Page Emlio SoIIero
KeIth
E_
Bmndon
K&!Itl Turner
student Pf9SS Law eM/Sf l1eporl
CUNY editors win right to refuse ad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Administrators in Mo. try to limit paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 .
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ADVISERS Fonner Wisc. teacher settles case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . 6 Wash. story causes investigation . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 6 Student in Calif. sues over misspelled name . . . . . . ... . . .. . . 6 .
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HIGH SCHOOL CENSORSHIP
Underground papers gaining popularity .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 7 N . Y. Ed. Commissioner reverses decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Mich. school threatens prior review . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Homosexuality policy causes censonhip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Principal violates Kan. law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . to Cigarette story pulled from Mo. student paper . . . . . . . . . t o Sexual harassment charges censored i n Wash . . . . . . I I Wisc. editor suspended for column .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I I Four states conti nue Hazelwood battle . . . .. . . . . ... . . . . . . . . 1 2 Homecoming queen in Calif. files suit . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 1 2 Private school expels for � ma.il in N J. .. .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 1 2 Wash. srudent wins In ternet battle . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 .
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LIBEL
Three decisions di vide paper from school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Nev. security guard files suit for defamation . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 15 ...
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LEGAL ANALYSIS Using laws to gain
access
to athletic info
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ACCESS NeWl\papea in conflict at lowa State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 20 ProCessionals and students work together .. . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 Calif. regents sued for illegal meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Press statewide takes on UNC system . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Colo. bills tackle e-mail as public records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Va. Supreme Court to hear vote totals case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Open records bill stalled in Penn. legislature . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Rutgers agrees to release infonnation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Air Force cadetS' paper kept on campus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Courts release senlements in Maine, Vt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Faculty records in Mich. ruled open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Studenr records ruling in Mich. and Mo . . .. . . . . . ... . . . . . . . 25 Parent in Texas wins right to records . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. 25 N. Y. courts open records, meetings . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Colo. srudent pressure opens meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 26 .
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CAMPUS CRIME
Virginia Tech Student seeks justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 New strategy adopted by SP] Task Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 .
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COLLEGE CENSORSH IP
Texas college censors slUdem newspaper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 8 N . Y . pros threaten Perm. student press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Policy restricts distribution at Ga. schools .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 29 April Fool ' s no joke ar Colo. college ......... . . . . .. . . ......... 30 Fla. administrators censor students again . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 NCAA strips Northwestern player's rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Funding a weapon in N.Y. and Penn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1 Pub. board gains strength at Northern Ill. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3 1 E i ghteen new theft cases reported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . .. 32 Alaska, San Francisco consider theft laws . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Texas srudent faces theft trial . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 34 Anti-abortion insens slolen in Fla. and Ga . . . . . " .. , ... . . . . 35 ..
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CONFIDE NTIALfTY
Two editors faced similar subpoena experiences . . . . 36 Minn. editor faces fine, k.eeps photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Case in Wash. left unresolved . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 37 .
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SPLC legal requests rise in '95; high school journalist calls up
S
even years afler
the S u pre me
authority to censor many high
Court's Hazelwood decision, calls
school
student publications.
from the high school stude n t
The number of all ca llers seeking le
media seeking legal help from me Stu
gal help from the Center rose only slightly
dent
last year. Overall. the
SPLC staff re sponded to lA09 requestS from those
Press Law Center hit an all-tim e in 1995. 542 high school student
high journalists
seeking legal advice and assistance in
or their advisers contacted
the Center for legal help last year. The
1995. up from the
previous high was 499, recorded durin g
1.402 legal question s
received in 1994. Requests for legal
1994.
help from college student media during 1995 numbered
Once again. questions about censor
percent from 1994.
ship topped the list of high school con
Legal assistance provided by the SPLC
cerns (39 percent), followed by ques tions about libel
806. a decrease of five
ranged from providing information over
(23 percent) copyright ,
law (17 percent) and freedom of infor
the telephone to drafting opinion letters
mation (6 percent).
to malcing referrals to local attorneys who are members of the Center's pro
In the last seven years, calls to the
bono Attorney Referral Network..
SPLC have increased almost 170 per cent. We attribute much of the increase
to the 1988 decision in HazelwoodSchool
District
Kuhlmeier, which provided
Y.
school officials with significantly greater
As in past years. requests to the SPLC 1995 came from all fifty states and the
District of Columbia. The states that
topped
the list were: California (151.
requests), New York(l33). I llinoi s (79),
Virginia (79). Massachusetts (78). Ohi o
(76). Pennsylvania (72). Missouri (70), (69) and Washington State (67).
Florida
March (236 requests) and October
(208) were
the
months reporting the
most activity. July (47) and August (79)
had the fewesl legal requests. Since 1974. the S tu de nt Press Law Center has been lhe only national legal assistance agency and information clear
inghouse
devoted exclusively to pro
and educating lhe student press about their freedom of expression and tecting
The Center received an additional 503
freedomofinfonnation rights. TheSPLC
questions from individuals seeking in
is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
formation only or from the media seek. I
in
ing comment on student press issues.
All legal services are provided to the free of c harge.•
student media
Keep the First Amendment (and the SPLC) by your side as you jump on the information superhighway. The text of the First Amendment along with the Student Press Law Center addre ss and phone number on a computer mouse pad. A great way to remind you what joumalism is all about.
First Amendment Mouse Pa�$10 each plus $1 shipping per mousepad. ($11 total) Send your prepaid order to: SPLC, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Sune 1910, Arlington, VA 22209 Spflng
1996
SPlC Report 3
Cover Story
How High the Toll? A ne w federal la w that attempts to control on -lin.e in/onnation threatens the First A mendment rights of student jou rnalists and advisers org,lI1 S " · Th is l i m i lfl l i on goes far bey on.d the l eg a l d c fi n i u n o f "ol)., ,-:·en i t y · · thnt the U,S. S upre m e Cou rt has !> 'il l d e a n be pu n isbed in
WAS HINGTON, D.C. - The d e over how 10 dcal with "i nde cenl,'· I uutcl'i a.l. ge l l l og i nto the hands of m i nors via tbe Internet and com puter r:i [ Works may fi nal l y be o ve r, al least (TOm Congress· view. For med i a. ad\' ise�"5. coUege IlDd :higb ·
bale
p n n [ccl marcrial:s.
school st udcll[$ all_d oLben: who are c(lll�crncd about Fi rst
ri g nls, t h e
Amendment
debale is Just beginning. 3 1 . Cj j Jl g fe. � s o verwhel m i ng l y passed n n e w te lcc ornm unJC'atjO n s law. Th e bi l l passed the Senate o n a vote 0 f 9 1 · 5 . and t h e Home on a Vote 0 f 4 1 4- 1 6. Presiden t C l in t o n signed the b i ll' o n February 8 . The b i l l wou l d e.s l abli$h cri minal On
J a n lU fl ry
pe ofl l t ics for mIn s m i l l i ng · · i ndecent'·
m a te r i a l "patently
or
m a k i ng
a,v'a i l a b l e
offcosivc·· maferiaJ 1 0 a
the age of 1 8 by means of a C m pUlcr net work. A n yone who "know i n g l y " lran m il! lie); i n rorma'tion !:Quld be puni, he<:! by up l I' t w o years in JaI l and fi ned as m u�h as $.2.50,000 for an i n d i v i d u a l a nd $ 500.000 fo r a company or business ent ity_ The l an g u age w o u l d pro t e c t o n - l i ne pro v i d ers. u h .u- America On-Linc. fr m pro ccu l i on i f thei r systems arc i mply lh mc.a n� by wh ich 30rncone person under
else tr<ln m i t s "i [tdl<:�Cnl·· material .
I ndece ncy
d�linl:d 'io th.\! b i l l a. in context, dt:pi lS orde cribes, i n lc·rms pal;entJ y is
a n y (;ommu n ical.ion "that, o ffe n j v c
3'
m eas u re d
by
i nduding ", hi:Jdrcn.
Two l a rge grOup$ h a ve filed chalJcngc.� aga .i n �t I'he Ia.w i n federal
:Ph i l ad e l p h i a s e d . i n g
�uur\ i n
dec l i.U'ilwry judg.m e n [ s tMt
prov'isions are unCQm;tilutionaJ. Both
sa i d the · · i nd c cc n .: y · · s [ undard s .
i11:: [ i on s chs.l 'iengc the i'ndece n c y
which have bee n used i n br adcas[ rcgulauol) cases. arc too vague and wou l d seriousl y reslricl the polen tial of the l:ll Ierg ing n line medium. Supponers ay the bill would re m o w a 1 01 o f · · s m utty·· malerial that is now open ly acc.cs�ible [0 anY 4 J n e with an on- l i ne ccou n [ . ·
re:sLricrions 011 t.he grounds that the y v i! l a te the Firs! Amc ndmenl and are too vague-.
The A l1Jcri�;lD Ci\
nion.
A soc i,a t i o n lhe groups
l awsuits.
E d ucal l on Socict� arc
of
a.owng
that have joi ned in
the
I n fcbru�� Ii)' . Federa l Judge Ro n a ld Buckwu.1tc[ g ranted a t e m porary re Slr'tl i n i n .g order c,n j uiln i n g, [ h e
governmeol from pro�uting Myone
under
!he "rndecency' · pro\l ision of
tllC new 'l a w . A three-judge panel
of the U.S.
Coun ofAp�"h for- the 'Th ird Circuir \ � o�
(; I. m v eiicd to ht:ai" lhe
c. a .,e
i n I [I [ C
fI.'I'ard, and Apri l .
Cm d ac:,e
Perk i n s
B o we n .
:-.ubmined an aftida\· i t contai n ing reaso n s wf" y Ihe organ i zatio n is ill\' ulvcJ i n the case, B owen silld .i f the new law slalld-. i t could pOI ad\·i sers a.nd their jobs in jeop a rd y becau e [ h e y w i l l be r pon i blc i f the t u de n ! relrc i \ cs "i ndecent" material by computer. B owen lidded, " Ad v i sers do n · [ h u n ker ver kid when they are on president o f l EA has
ompU ler · ·
0 it i. u n fair 10 put the
ry comm u n i t y stnndanL,
rC. p o n ' i b i, l I l Y
. c
)C u al 0
e xcre t o ry
I '" chcr..•
4 SPlC Report
a ll d
Professi onal loumall�ts
n t e. m p
r
II L i bt:rties
l o u r n :\ l i ·' m
c
<l c t i vi ti � s
t hese
Those opposed to the regu l a[ ions
('I u t i n: l ),
on
I he
Spring I QQ6
�==���==��� Editors win right to refuse ad NEW YORK
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Student editors at the City University of New
Yark School of Law at Queens Colle ge
(CUNY) defeated a
former student in September 1995 in a lawsuit filed against them for refusing to publish his classified advertisement in the student newspaper. Jackson Leeds , a
1993 graduate from CUNY Law School,
brought action against the stud ent editors of The Brief and
school officials. contending that the paper's refusal to publish
classified adv ertisement in the stu dent newspaper violated his First Amendment rights. The advertisement asked for material that wouJd "discredit" cenain faculty and administrators at the school "for use in a federal civil rights action against the school." The editors refused to publish the advertisement in the beginning of February because th ey feltitcould be defamatory and might expose them and the paper to lawsuits. When Leeds was notified that the ad had been declined, be filed a complaint claiming that a
his
First
and
advertisement in TM Briefwithout gi ving any details of how this occurred. Leeds alleged lba.t the school threatened retaliation against the paper for printing articles he had published in the paper and that the school influenced The Brief by threats of withholding financial support and computer equipment. 1be judge ruled that Leeds provided insufficient information to prove the allegations. In the judge's final conclusion, he states "furthermore. the nature of this case-involving, as it does. the First Amendment rights of a student newspaper to exercise its discretion in accepting advertisements-- requires a more substantial showing than Leed ' s factually unsupported alleg ati on of influence upon the newspaper editors by state actors at the law school." He also states that "it is difficult to beli e ve that all three student editors would have supinely accepted the alleged intimidation of the school administration. Even if they had felt intimidated, stu de n ts bein g students. more than likely they would have at least complained to
Fou rteenth
Amendment rights were violated by the editors refusal to print the advertisement. In his complaint, Leeds stated that certain administrators and faculty at the school "prevented th e publication" of his
some
of their
administration
'
student
about
colleagues
the
faculty
or
pressure and the issue
.
in the
natural course of events would inevitably have b e co m e a ,
s u bject
st udent
of
(See
CUNY. page
Dispute over ad contract settled
Coke contracts. theManeaterdiscovered
MISSOURI
What could have been a
that the contracts do not affect the paper
battle over administrative control over
boxes but the university still did not
willing to c om prom i se with
the student paper, end ed peacefully this
want the new boxes on campus.
university," B urlis on said .•
-
contracts for
the advertising space.
After investigating the university's
The University of Missouri at
choices: agree to what the
Columbia's student newspapercame into
administration wanted, go to the
conflict with school officials regarding
school s board of cu rators for
a contract that administrators signed with
clarification on the Coke contract
the Coca-Cola Bonling Company. The
or go to court.
contract prohibits advertising of any non
They decided 10 discuss the situation with the curators. A
Colee beverage on campus.
space in those locations. "The old boxes look bad. but we were the
The Man.eaterstudent newspaper uses
compromise was agreed upon by the Maneater's a dviser
for advertising posters from a national
Barbara Burlison, and the board
advertising agency The university did
of curators. The news paper
.
not want the paper to use
the new boxes
because there was a chance there would
NEWS STANP
'
new distribution boxes that have areas
,
bo xe s with the area for allowed
advertising would be
be a non-Coke beverage advertised. The
on campus except in Ihe main
s tudent news paper already had prior
academic building
1996
alumni building. Instead. the Maneater placed old boxes that did no t have the ad
The staff decided they had three
spring.
SprIng
13)
n
n
and in the
SPlC Report 5
Forlll e r adviser drops case for WISCONSIN
-
An adviser who lost his job after helping
lltis was an important case because it demonstrates that
journalism students cover controversial s tories settled h is claim against
colleges
the university in March for $64.000 .
must respect First Amendment rights," said Demers'
attorney, Marshall H. Tanic-k. "It is iconic that
a journalism
department. which supposedly teaches students about the First
The University of Wisconsin at River Falls is paying David Demers to drop his federal First Amendment lawsuit against the university and journalism chair J. Michael Norman. "I am extremely ple.ased with the settlement," said Demers. "I hope this serves as a warning to administrators at other institutions that violations of the First Amendment cannot be
Ame ndment should have to learn such a costly lesson this ,
way."
Demers said a portion ofthe damages settlement will be used
to set up F'trst
Amendment scholarship funds at the Universicy
of Wisconsin and na tio nally.
tolerated,"
"It was unfortunate that this matter
could not be resolved
before this," Demers said. "But I am extremely pleased that we
"The total settlement figure represents a payment by UW River Falls to Demers effectively 'buying out' the one year
will be able to set up some scholarships to help journalism students pay for college and remind administrators for years to come of the importance of respecting the First Amendment.".
remaining on his contract, plus a p ayme nt by the State of Wisconsin of a portion of the attorneys'
$6-4 ,000
fee he incurred in this
litigation," said Chancellor Gary A. Th.ibodeau,
Bestiality story sparks investigation of teacher WASHlNGTON
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A
high sch ool
newspaper's story about farm boys hav
ing
sex
with animals
has stirred an up
roar in the slIUlll farming community of
Stanwood and has pl aced the ad v i ser of
the paper' s job in jeopardy. The Spartan Spectrum 's adviser, Val Schroeder who tbeschool says approved ,
tbe story by staff writer Liz Davis, is facing disciplinary ac ti on by school of ficials who want her teaching creden
tials wi thdrawn by the state. .. An article like this has no place in a high school newspaper, especially in a farming community," said Raymond Reid, the school districl superintendent. "There are plenty of other things to write about. Many of our students live on
farms. It was irresponsible to let that be printed."Offi cials objected to the topi c ,
not any specific information in the story. Davis' story in the Stanwood High
paper, headlined "How many of you out there live on a farm?" cited studies that a iUth of fann boy s engaged in bestiality. The story stated that such acts were against me law and quoted the School ' s
schools
counselor's opinion about the
issue.
Reid said that Davis wou ld nOl be
punished but that Schroeder wo uld be disciplined by me school board.
Schroeder still
holds her position
as
adviser and teacher at Stanwood High
School but
g an
is currently undergoin
investigation by the school board.
6 SPlC Report
StUdent sues
Fern Valentine, a member of Wash
iogton Journalism Education Associa
tion, w rote
a letter to the state superin
over name
tendent stating that Schroeder was no t
''professionally unfit orimmoral because of what her students wrote." "One of the best things a student jour
nali st can learn is critical thinlcing skills,"
Valentine said. "!fthe adviser makes all
of the decisions you
are
sacrificing
an
important part of learning."
Valentine said Schroeder to ld the S(u
den ts the consequences they might face by runniog
the bestiality story but the
students still wanted to print it. She said
Schroeder wanted the students to make their own decisions.
"Hopefully the state superintendent
will read the case Valentine said .•
and
throw it out .
"
CALIFQRNL\'_. ·--- A:c��, l;lItempl ..,. iog 10 hOi•.! a_ y�k'8dviser re .
.
sponsibfe for iliiSspelfing astUde'!t' s
middle'- ruune '
wal--throwD.
out of
court in November.
Parent Jacqueline Ackennan
bought a $250 advertisement in the
,S;atl Gorgottio High School for'her (fAugbt&-, shalmon C.hri�lel· -A.�_�rritaif, " Wbe� her
'ye,� at
middle name was acddentally mis spelled as ' ''CbristU,'' the parent blamed the adviser: ' '" , Tbe"paTent'filed a complaint- with the school district demanding that Marllyo Sabehs ' sa:Iary for advis
ing t:he yeatbook. fur the previous
yearbe�She also demanded
that the school pay damages to her for pain and suffering. The-.SiCbool - agreed to refund ap proximately: half of the-payment of the ad.'� the cost of Shannon' s yearb.oQk.. When the student ne.ver caIQe to pick up the tnQney Sab.ens' thougbUhe. i.ssue was-over UDti1 �be w� nf)tifi� that she was �g sued, in smaIl ciaims cOurt for $3.500. (See ADVISER . page 13J
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,
Spring
1 996
Gaining Popularity Alternative publications open doors for student expression. but administrators are not always supportive
R
ad?
I-Iau/wood- i nspj red
rebellion? Or j ust �arching
for
a II ice? High school stu
offer many rell.! ons why they
dent
allorney Patrick Gilbe.n. "The agm�l1Icnl And. Pattee gels to g o bal;,k 1'0 MI,.'Q ucen
Sc.hool, is ba ked by the Ameri 'n libcrtie Union of Mis!.ouri. They are inve ligaljng whether his
High with hiS fitst Amendment righLS."
F i rs t
probably saved the town
a
lot oj' money.
udcnt atJacobs Hlgb
produce undcrgf\c.llmd newspapers.
Jason Hopkins, a
W hate v er their re,asons. mOst still
School, in AI8�)nquin, m., was suspended three others for d istri buling an, underground on school
lind Lbemsel\'cs gcuing punished.
oewspaper
In fivc underground
incidents reported 10 \.he Student
Law Cenler Ihis spring, the sludenls responsible w�re caug .h l and I hen �cnH�nced 10 di ffere n t punishments. BUl inadiffcreni twist. mC);-.1 of I:hese students knew Iheir F.U51 Amendment rights, f oughl back Pres
and
W{lO.
In Renu. Nev •. Pat
l.ec. a s tudenl at
McQueen High Scbool. was suspended for 10 days in and
.....as
December
almol>llnmsferrcd 10 another
S(;bool afler d.islrjbyling the second odition of his publicalion. He
was
ac.cus.cd or usUig language thai
was
profane and threalening a school employee
in
his
Kllhnspeeruhsee
paper
(pronounced
"cofispirncy") . After meeting with the
Amencan
Ci vi l Ubenies Uni o n of Nevada, the
C oun l y School District agTced to withdraw its request to haw Lee lJansfcrred to another high school. Lc� ag.r,eed 10 submit a retraction and apology 10 the of.ticiill Washoe
studcOl ncwS:1J3pcr. but did Dot admit
hi s guil t for the charge.s
him.
made against
The �ehool has nOI prohibited
Lee from publishing the underground
paper.
been able with the school
"We are pleased to have to work thi. district,"
Spring
1996
u{
aid A'
I
c(lo,perating
in January al ong with
grounds wilhoul permission.
The school als,o �;lIlccll in the police
to
"scare;' Hopk.ins into telling school
ojTr�iaJs
whu eJse was i n vol ved in the
production
of lhe paper. The officer
threatened to anest him if he did not
re\'eal
the others, Hop kins �l1Jd.
Civil
Amendmenl
violated and
if
righls were
Ihe school illegrilly
earchcd him and pressured him 10 who else was in\'ul"cd. HOLHlilpaid for and 'printed his paper uff of s c h ool grounds and also dislribute�J it aw,ly from lhe school. He 'SHined his paper because he relt a:. thou gh nis views would nOI be pri.nl.ed i n th hool' paper. tell
"'The Am e r i ca n Civil Liberties
paper pri nle d a siudenl's wish IU "get rid
Lhrcc thing,,: Fir"!. he lost ac,ademically, for example lei hIm I�,kc hi s '(:)('I]ns:; says Joh n Cofrman, the prcsillent of Mid M iSi ouri AOLU. S«"ondl y an
of aU
apology
Union is see t in g
Hopkins, one of the editors who began Ihe paper, Not "'FTalOli. said lheyslarted
their own paper after the official school
tbe freaks." He relt like tbe)' wcr tar geli ng him and his friends so he de<:ided 10 respond through his own
newspaper . "We did LI because we
remedy what
-
"
or
.
statement saying (school
officials] c o u l d have handled situalion better. and third, create an open d i a logue aboul racial issues .
it is heUErto have
wanted (0 CXp'\I"CSS our opinions,"
Lei �tudents knl
Hopkins said.
open di �cuss ion Ihan censors.bjp."
w
"We fell the Tnlon did nOI cxprc!<.s Clur views," Hopkin� !iaid. The pri n c i pal threatened Hopkin. , who had ne ve r been in trou bl e al scbool before. wi th expulsion if he dhlributed anotber paper. Hopkins said. He h:L;; sinc e tamed the papcf a linle and b produ.ced severall more i_suc..... He is bacled b,Y an actomey who will file !iuil hfthc school tries to cxpc'l him. he says. In Columbja. Mo . . a 15-year- Id higb
page magazine,
school SIU!JCrll was suspcndl:d in January
commen
an underground The Red and Black, th:1I
Presently. Coffman is tryi ng ,10 senle
the i. . ue
pc."lcerully. Al the request offlairo !I parents. offman is wri ling the admini,slralnr Dud school upcrinlendenl to sec if Ithe y willi �lIle. ''I'm try i ng 10 exhaust ellery
rem edy
before going [0 court,"
Coffman &;.ud. In Pon SI. LUi:
school y tern.
a1legcdl,y I:()ntajned rac.i"l. 31Ili-Scmillc
_Iudent at
dialJiibc. Abe Haim.
aS1udetH
t
Hkkman
High
Fl;),. six siudents a
10-
Wed!(t' , which
on the SI. Lucie County
s
after distributi,ng
ncwspa�r.
f'.
wcre punished for pubh�bin�.
Ryan DcCo:>lmo. the ed ,i t nr and
School.
w
(Su
a
p'orl SL Lucie High u!';pcnded Iwi
after
UNDERGROUND.
1'0' e 8)
SPLC Report 7
Underground
an attorney for the ACLU of Wisconsin.
At A.Depn HIgh Sc:hoot three students
(COIIrilluedjrom page 7)
decided to , publish an underground
of the magazine were distributed on
newspaper p r i m ari l y because their school did not a have a school newspaper
a copy. The school claimed they violated
"The principal o bj ected to the paper at
each edi ti on came out. The stapled pages
campus, charging students any coin for
that prohibit distribution of non· authori zed publications on campus . DeCosUno contacted the American Ci vii
school rules
Liben ies Union of Florida and the First
Amendment Foundation in Tallahassee to see what his right were . The ACLU
said the school m ay have over-extended their boundaries.
"The student ' s suspension is highly
questiooableand there are pro babl y very
stron g grounds for a
c
hallenge:' said
Andrew Kayton , legal director fOT the
at all.
first and said it didn't belong at sch
the
ool because it contained obsce ne
words and littered the school," said Emily
Kroes, an editor of FonetikLlIi.
Now the principal has started
a prior
To put an end to the underground, the
paper. say s it is more of a literary magazine that was incorporated into the school formed an official school Kroes
as
a
way to make money . Sometimes students
like d oi n g something that is underground because they feel like they are doing something wrong. Under HaZI!Iwood they can ' t express themselves freel y in official school publications. This way they can." DeCosimo vo ws to keep writing and to
produce another issue.
A school in Glendale, Wis., has
created
that make it difficult for students to
distribute their underground publication.
yearbookclass. "It' sreall y dumb," Kroes
A junior and five sophomores were
said. "We wi 11 sti ll produce our paper as
for d istri butin g an underground paper
At l e a s t one sc hool decided no
Nkolet High School
bad published. Ellio t Moeser, the
school ' s top administrator. said the
content of the publication was not the
issue. School guideli nes say students
m a y d is tr i b ute o n ly n on-school
l o ng
as we can."
pun i shmen t
students. At G reenville
and then on ly at two of the several exits
concerns
In November when an earlier i ssue of
the Ricochet was distributed, the students
followed the school guidelines . With a
later issue they violated the rules when they distributed before school started.
The editors said Ricochet was formed
issued and the
administration would be reasonable in
Mic h i g a n ,
the building.
would be
discussing an underground paper with
sponsored materials after school ends to
Hlgh School
adm i n is trators
when t h e
in
v o ice d
underground
newspaper, Counter Culture, i ncluded
profanity and criticized o ne specific teacher
and school officials in general .
Principal Harold Deines said he objected
that the underground was di stributed by
being s tuffed into students'
lockers,
denyin g them the choice of whether to
because some students thought the school
pick: up the paper.
were i mpo rtan t . said Peter Koneazny,
t h e situati o n , (the stud e n t s ] were
was n ot covering issues they thought
8 SPlC Report
{issue of] distribution and availability to
students,"
said Deines.
No disciplinary action has been taken
against the students. 1ltat could change if they violate
the agreement about di s
tribution, Superintendent Tom Pridgeon said. •
the paper to the principal before ircan be distributed.
Kay ton believes "that these studen ts
they
At this point we are only handling the
C-o l'mItissioner -re:verses action _
bad a creative idea and they saw it
suspended from
give them credit for that. I did not agree with their style. but we were able to sit down and diSClW the situation as adu lts.
review policy and the staff must show
ACLU.
rules
reasonable, " Deines said. "I'll have to
"For the most part, when we did discuss
NEW YORK - The state com missioner ofeducation has reven;ed the findings ofthe-Mooticello Cen tral School Board of Education. which disciplined losh Herzog in January 1995 for participating in the publication and distribution of an underground newspaper. In November, the 'commissioner found mat Josh Herzog 'was not afforded due process because the charges for which he was disci plined did not state that the distri· bution of the newspaper �urred on schoo) grounds and what issues would have been raised at his dis
ciplinary -hearing.
The commissioner said the failed to present evide nce that Herzog distributed the papers anywhere, let alone on school school
grounds.
'The school district had flIed
a
criminal complaint against Herzog and
brought the in·school disci·
plinary action. The commissioner
ordered that the criminal charges
be dismissed and the suspensions
be removed
from his disciplinary
record. The Monticello School District
is appealing the commissioner's
decision to a state
court.•
Spring
1 996
Prior review policy threatened after student writes editorial MICHIGAN - S tudents at Anchor Bay High School in New Baltimore got a harsh warn i n g on what their school administrators find objectionable newspaper, Anchor Bay review
Times.
when
was
the student-produced
hastily sentenced to prior
after administrati ve complaints that an editorial was
unfair and contained errors.
At issue is
an edi torial that 1 6 -year-old student jo urnalist
Misha Charles wrote
in December cri t ici zi ng the school's
decision to repair the gymnasium during (h e giTls' basketbal l
season and questioned whether the work would.have been done
tbe boys ' basketball season. Lutz disagreed that the pre-publication review amounted to censorship. "As iDSituctOrs, we want the swdents to hold themselves to journalistic standards and produce articles that are fair and balanced ," Lutz. said. during
Principal Steven
' Pap�r- �eriSored due to hoino.sex'uality poli cy "
-
'
NEW IiAM,PSliIRE -... Censorship at Merrimack High School � sparked' a legal battJe that could set a precedent regardip.g
sChools.
' . ,
discussing
homosexuality in
.
PrinCipal 'riJnQthy �es censored two
letten; to
Current�, �.,student newspaper. saying they vi olate the dlstricfs'pOJjcy restricting the positive discussion of nonwsekUality,
' The ,ce,nsorshjp' 'sparked attention concerning the policy'imdprompted several members of the Merrimack eomrTll,ln i tY. ,nduding' .stUdents and the Merrimack Teac
�f$ A�oeiatiQn, to file a lawsuit.
The .pori,?Y, tided the
�'Probibition of Alternati ve
Ufestyle Instruction," or policy 6540, prohibits any prognm or activ·i ty; including instruction and "Her editorial was very educated," said Chris LaMillza. the Times adviser.
Charles incl uded rati onale as to how the
school could have saved more money by waili ng to repair the gym floor
after gir l s basketball season and i ncl uded
improvements in girls' athletics. "She was very i nfo rm ed
."
LaMiliza said. LaMillza added that the school is eypical of any other school where girls are not treated as equal as boys conce rning athletics. 'The article caused a lot of griping:' LaMillza sai d
The school and the newspaper staff met together to corne up with a concrete editorial policy that clarifies the students' and the school ' s rights.
"This has been a positi ve experience because all sides are ru l es , LaM i llza said. "
Currently, the school . se uden t paper and board of education have implemented a "wait and see" policy for six months. The prior review policy has been plac ed on hold unti l needed. The admini strators agreed that since this was the first ti me a probl e m has surfaced perhaps they reacted too hasti l y .•
Spring
1996
or effect" of
"encouraging or �upporig in homosexuality as a positive lifestyle ,alternative ." It does not prohibit or restrict programs or activities that communica te a negative expression of opinion pertaining to homosexuality.
The law,SuU was flred beCause·"the policy has direct!y and sub8�tially curtailed ,th� plaintiffs' freedom of expressioo/: said the cour1-�lnplaint. The lawsuit also slateS, '1'IDs policy . . is constitutiooally vague, violating !he strict standards of claritY required by the due process clause of the Fourteen th Amendment and the free s�h protecti9ns of the First Amendment." The l� to � newspaper criticized the policy, whicb prompted theprincipal to censor them. Ironically, at the·begin,ning of the school year� the paper reported on the policy and ql!:Oted school board members and twa anonymous students arguing for and against the policy. The principal said,the article was acceptable because .it was b81anced, but the current letters bad the potential to violare the policy.• .
.
"Yet, no one would write a rebuttal.·'
having to come together and set
counseling, which � the "purpose
SPLC
Report 9
����:,����== Principal violates Kansas press law; superintendent won't punish censor KANSAS - A middle school principal violated the Kansas Student PublicaLions Act in December by refusing to distribu te about 200 copies of Ellsworth High School' s Bearcat and never received any fonnal punishment. Two student reporters, Mandy ---, Johnson and Amy Smi th. demanded to know why the principal
said he thou gh t the girls should have bee n kicked off the basketball team,
instead of a five-day suspension, Brock read the newspaper and told Johnson he did not want them. Johnson said Brock latertold them he threw away
1992 that protects high school student journalists from censorship by adminis(rators. Gachart said he did not see the need for any discipline of the pri ncipal. He thought public humiliation the press was -, punishmentenough for the middle
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
school principal. Dawnae Bunch, faculty adviser for (he paper and journalism instTUctor at the school, said she hoped Garhart would infonn his faculty of the law to prevent future censorship attempts. " I have seen nothing but unethical and unprofessional decisions by administrators," Bunch said.
censored the paper. They also fought for their paper' s distri bution. After Principal Bob Brock refused to distribute the paper,
Johnson and Smith turned to the school administtation for help only to find they would not answer any of their questions. They told their story to the EHswonh community newspaper, parents and school board members. After drawing so much attention to the issue, Superintendent Kent Garhart agreed to aJlow the students to distribute 250 more copi es of the 8earcar if they would drop the matter.
Even though the students got to disoibute their papers, Johnson still cans it an "empty victory ," r hope nothing else comes out of this. and I hope the students get the newspapers," Johnson said. 'That' s an we wanted. 1 am glad it's over. A lot of people were "
Bearcat staff writers delivered pa-
pers to Kanapolis Middle School. In-
eluded in the paper was a letter to the
editor by Josh S vaty about five girls who
werecaughtdrinlcing at Kanapolis. S vaty
Cigarette story pulled from student paper MISSOURI "Two area businesses sen cigarettes to minors," read the Jag uar Journal headline. Underneath was only a large white space with a logo saying it was an investigative repon . The story did not run because the prin cipal at Blue Springs South High School censored it. Now. the school district is involved in a censorship sttuggle with the newspaper. After students attended an American -
10 SPlC
Report
but a lot of other people were upset and blaming me, and it's not my fault. But if that's what it takes to ge t the papers delivered. fine. I'm glad people realize we're not just stupid high school students.". fighting.
The censorship began when
the newspapers. B y throwing away their work Brock also disregarded the Kansas Sludent Publications Act, a state law passed in Cancer Society press conference on the dangers of smoking, they decided to create a special edition of the student newspaper on the topic. The plan was to include a story on minors ' ability to purchase cigarettes from local businesses in violation of the law. Before the students began the in vestigation they contacted the police 1 0 get permission to buy the cigarettes. A 1 5-year-old freshman and a 16-year-old junior went to eight local businesses. Two of the eight il legally sold cigarettes to the minors . Editor Jeremy Gales said Ibe students wanted to run the story with names of the businesses and comments from the
owners. According to Gates, PrincipaJ Dennis Littrell censored the paper because busi nesses had allegedly called and were afraid the story would hurt their busi ness. The superintendent said he would allow the paper to run t he article if the business names were delete, G ates said. The staff decided to run the entire issue with the white space because of their comminments to advertisers. Other articles, ads and cartoons about smoking were printed. After the local paper ran the story printing the businesses' names, the prin cipal allowed the student paper to print their story, Gates said .•
Spring
1 996
Story abo u t sexual harassment charges rentoved frODt paper becaus'e ' hurtful ' WASHJNGTON - Censorship. It is a powerfuL word. One which sparks controversy whenever it is mentioned, and civil "flrest wherever it is employed. Censorship is an authority 's right to prior review with the powu to delete. It is now being practiced at
Port Townsend High School.
So began t� front page article of the A rrow. the Port
Townsend H i gh School stude nt newspaper, after i l was forced to pull a fro n t page story
in February in which s l ud ents alleged
that a school staff member was guilty of sexual harassment.
The A rrow was notified in a memo from Principal Arcella
Hall
in which she stated,
"I am
activating my authority to
monitor student publications. I will see the nexI copy of Ihe
before it i s printed." ''The [staff] saw it as a threat to their ability to do honest j o urnalism and appealed Hall ' s decision to POrt Townsend School District Superintendent, Dr. Gene Medi na" reported the Arrow. They also discussed the issue of prior review with Hall, but no change was made. Arrow
Arrow adviser Steve Simpson asked Hall for a copy of her orders and her justification for giving them. Her response
hurtful to a staff member disruptive to the operation of the schooL" The staff and the adviser are curren tly complying with the prior review policy but are a l so appealing it. Simpson sent a letter to the members of the school board arguing that the Arrow is a "forum for student expression." He added that the student editorial staff has control l ed the content of the paper for the past two--and-one-half years. Simpson contends that because the Arrow is a student-controlled forum for student expression, the administration has no legal nght to censor material unless it "materially and substantially di sru pts stated, "I consider this article to be
and potentially
the education process."
Editor Elizabeth Martin decided to write a letter to the school
affmns the censorship then Martin plans to lake the iss ue (0 court.• board appealing the censorship. If the school board
Column leads
had occurred.
to suspension,
he went to the administrators' office,
•
•
prIor reVIew WISCONSIN - An editor ' s col umn in February prompted administrators at D.C. Everest High Sc hool in Schofield to confiscate 1 ,400 copies of the student newspaper, suspend th e student for sexual harass ment and require prior review of all future issues of The Jet by
th e principal . One mo nth later t h e
principal cen sored the student paper
again .
copies of Th e Jet were destroyed after school offi c i als The
objected to a c olumn written by
juni or Chris Taber that described a
romantic fantasy i nvolving assistant principal Dawn B ratt.
Taber got (he idea when he
recei ved a note from B rait saying
she had an i dea for his col umn . In his c ol umhe described his first reacti on to the note as, " Oh my god, she wants me!" referring to th e plots of movies w h e re si mi lar inc i dents Sprlng 1 996
Taber wrote in his column that when
" She sits at her desk and 1 sit on her lap.
and real ize. 'Hey maybe she does have an no, no just kidding. So I sit down
idea for my column ! ' And she did." He
went on to tell about Bratt' s idea that rap music may go the way of disco. By the end of the column he concl udes that his fantasy was misguided.
When he learned that Bratt was a
offended by Ihe colu m n . he wrote
column to be " light and amusi ng . " The target of the humor. was supposed to be himself.
"1 know Ms. Bratt, " he says in the City Pages. "We had a good rapport, one for each other. My column rea l ly was not
intended to make her look like a fool , but
me.
"
Taber accepted his one day suspension
but
believes that prior review for the
entire paper is going too far. Adviser Scott B l anchard. supports this opinion.
Bl.U Superintendent R o ger Dodd
leiter of apology to her.
di sagrees.
Wausau Magazine, that he wrote
staffadviser and the student," said Dodd.
Taber says
in the City Pages. a weeldy the
"II was poor j udgment on behal f of the " "The paper w i l l go o n . I I ' s a
curriculum class."
Dodd also said that "the enlire i ssue would have died down by no w i f were n ' t for media groups prodding to start trouble."
B lanchard said that high school
principal
Tom
Johansen wi l l
approve all of the paper's editorial
content before it is published.
In Apri l . Taber was c ensored
again.
The col umn questioned the
existence of God. (Su SUSPENSION , page
1 2)
SPLC Report 1 1
States fight Hazelwood
Missing photo prompts . queen to file lawsuit
Mi ssouri, the home o f the Hazelwood School District
curtai led stu den t First Amendment rights, has taken
state legislation that would give studen ts free press protections and coun teract that 1988 decision. Illinois. Nebraska and Michigan have also pursued the battle. The Freedom of Expression Committee in Missouri has recently gained edit orial support from the Kansas Ciry SlOT, " said B i l l Ha nkins, a teacher at Oak Park High School. In February, journalism instructors. students and legislators gathered at a he ari n g at the state capitol to testify in favor of House B i ll 953 . School administrators and the Missouri Association of School Boards argued against the bill. The bill was voted out of the House Commi ttee by an 8-7 vote and is waiting in the House for a ful l vote before the session ends in May. Rep. Joan Bray (D-University City) is in her fourth year supporti n g the bill. In nlinois, Rep. Mary Lou Cowlishaw (R-NaperviUe) is strongly p u shing for legislalive action to give s tu dents free press rights. HB-3053 curre n tly sits in the House and is not expected to ge t any attention during this session primarily because the legislature is dealing with budget matters, said James Tidwell, a professor at Eastern minois University. "Ti me is about to run out on this se s s i on , but hopefully it will be p i c ked up in the su m mer during interim session or in the fall d u rin g veto session:' Tidwell said. Rep. Cowlishaw, w h o is a l s o chair o f the House Secondary Education Committee, has agreed to help find a senate sponsoL B i ll 320 i n trod uced by Sen. Chris B eut ler (D-Lincoln) in Nebraska During 1 995, fonnally died this legislative session. Jon Bender, an assistan t professorofIournalism at the U nive rs i ty of Nebraska at Lincoln said the state high school press associ at i o n will meet at the e nd of April to attrac t more teacher i nteres t. He said no plans have been made to reintroduce another bill. In Michigan, legislation has reached a standsti ll . Chery l Pelt executive director of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association said B ill 5058 i n troduce d in September is waiting for action. "We need more democratic support for anything to happen," PeJl said. The bill is currently in the House Education Conun i ttee .• "
CALIFORNIA - The S a n District agreed i n Septem ber tbrough arbitration to pay San Leandro High School' s first black homecoming queen , January Cooper, $3.500 for emotional dis tress after omitting her photograph from the 1 993 yearbook . "I think this was an honest mis take that got blown out of propor tion," said Louis Leone, attorney for the school district. In the same yearbook the picture of the varsity football team was also left out. Cooper' s attorney fel t di fferently. Leandro School
''11lls was a civil rights case," said
Taylor Culver. "They always
ran
the pictures of the homecoming queen s, and then all of the sudden they stopped when they had their " flfst black hom ecomi n g queen. "Somebody should have caught the mistake, but there was certainly no racist con sp iracy, said Leone. "
The arbitrator held that the year
book adviser, and thus the school. responsible for the omission
was
and owed Cooperdam.lges for "oeg emotional dis tress." TIle arbitrator's decisi on did not mention the California student free expressi on law, which says stu dents determine the conlent of ligent i nfliction of
Judge rules
e-mail grounds for expUlsion
NEW JERSEY - A New Jersey appellate court ruled last Au gust , in a unpublished
decision, that the Peddie School's decision to dismi ss a student who violated a school
school-sponsored publications .•
Suspension ( Co"tinuedfrom pag� 11)
Johansen said he was conce rned the article contained "sacri legious co nte nt . After the paper ' s staff appealed the censorshi p, Johansen relen ted and allowed the column to ru n . Having Johanse n screen future issues of The Jet e nd s the long tradi ti o n of editorial freedom enjoyed by the paper, says B lanchard . • "
1 2 SPlC Report
)/. Kuhlmeier case that the lead this spring in tackling
disciplinary rule by "bullying others" via e-mail is acceptable. Bruce Chiarello was expelled a fter distributing rac ial and sex ual "hate speech" on the school' s e-mail system. He appealed the decision saying that his First Ame ndment rights were violated . The court said Chiarello had si gned an enrollment contract at the pri vate school t hat o bli ged him to accept the rules and regulations in the student handbook. Peddie ' s student handbook lists several " major school rules" and note s that tbe violation of a major school rule may lead to "immedi ate dismissal." Major school rule number one states th at the students must "have consideration for the personal and material rights of others. In other w ords. bullying others , destroy ing property, and stealing from others are totally unacceptable behaviors." According to Peddie's major school rul e s , educators can p l ace reasonable restric tions on free speech. "The attempt to control the speech was in a non-public forum," the court said in Chiarello \I. the Peddie School. No. A-4455-93 (App. Div. Aug. 1 5, 1 995). "It was private co nduc t at a private boardi n g school:'.
Spring
1 996
Student wins Internet case, says harm done WASHINGTON
-
The Bellevue
School District has settled out ofcowt
witb a student. who was punished last
year for creating a satirical computer
"home page" about his schoo L
In February 1 995, Paul Kim, a finalist with a 3 . 8
National Merit
grade-point average at Newport High School, created the home page from computer on his own time and included a disclaimer that read "no one associated with the school" was responsible for the page but hinuelf. He also signed his name to the page.
his own
Howeve.-, without prior notice to
Kim, the principal faxed a letter to National Merit officials withdrawing tbe school's endorsement of him: the pr in cipal al s o contacted s e v e n co Ueges to whlch he had a ppl ied and revoked any recommendations. The American Civil Libenies Union of Washington threatened to file a
lawsuit
against
the
d i strict,
contending thatit violated Kim's First
Amendment right of free speech. "This is an important settlement
because it protects the rights of studentS to engage in
free speech on
the Internet at home," said ACLU of
Adviser
(Contimledjrom page 6)
Principal Phil Haley who appeared before the court along with a school district representative on Sabens' behalf, said me judge threw out the case. . According to Haley, the judge said the school had done en oug h by attemptIng to compensate the Ackermans for the cost of the
ad and the yearbook. . Haley added that thejudge commented, "students edit the yearbook also, not Just
the adviser. The annu al was a scbool project. It isn' t fair to blame j u st one person , especially me adviser:"
Washington Executive Director
Kathleen Taylor.
'The district has
recognized that the principal had n o
authority to discipline a student for expressing his opinions on his own
time on a home
computer."
In December, the district apol ogized
to Kim, who is now a freshman at Columbia Uni versity. They paid him
$2,000 and will see lc to have him reinstated as a National Merit finalist. Regardless of the settlement, Kim said, the damage is done . "Even with compen sation and
an
apology letter,
the damage is irreversible ....
SprIng
1 996
CUNY
(Continuedfrom �e 5) discussion at-the law school ."
Leeds alleged that
editors,
the student
although not employed by
the law school. were- acting under color of state J�w in their decision not to publish his advertisement Courts have consistently heJd-that only government officials or "state actors" can infringe FtBt Amend· meot rights. Student editors -have
been found n o t to be state actors when maIdng their own content decisions.
In dismissing the case, the judge
ruted in Luds v. Meltz, 898 F. Supp.
r46 (E.D.N.Y. 1995) that it was clear that the paper's editors who are law studentS are not state actors. Leed's was not satisfied with the judge's decision and has appealed the case to the United States District Court for the Appeals of S econd Circuit. • SPlC Report 1 3
�������
Avoiding Control
Universities that allow student editors to make content decisions are protected from libel suits , three courts rule NEW JERSEY, NEW YORK & SOUTH CAROLINA Three recent -
coun decisions have reaffinned
a
prin
ci ple that should m ake college adminis
trators less inclined to cen so r the studenl press: schools that allow student editors to make their own content decisions wi 11
be protected from li abi lity i f a l i bel suit
is filed. A South Carolina s�te coun judge ruled in December that Clemson Uni versity was not
and accurate report of because it was writ ten and published based on pol ice inci i ts elf was "a fair
public documents"
spots
around
pers .
dent reports.
The Tiger staff decided to reprint the
Simmons
issue for distribution on the following
said newspapers have " a valid recognizable interest in publishing repons of criminal investigations and activities and the public
has
a corre
sponding interest in rece iv in g the information. .
day . Lentz contacted the newspaper and
they agreedto re write the story about hi s
the incl usion of Lentz's ver sion of the incidents. The second ver arrest. with
reprinted edition of The Ti
responsi ble
ger on Oct 29.
when he dismissed a l ibel
Uni versity Director of Stu the newspaper tried to work
A former Clem son gradu
with
ate student brought the suit
Lentz after he initially
contacted them to include
he tenned a "ma
in the coverage of the surro und i n g his arres t. In addition to re writ
him
licious and unlrue" s(Qry
incidents
The Tiger sru·
dent newspaper in October
ing the story about Lentz's
1 994. The story was based
arres t,
on police repons relating to
the newspaper staff
contacted L e n tz several
an alleged incident of i nde-
weeks
ce n t exposure .
Among the j udge's reas ons for dis
missal were that the university was not
The
Tiger because the paper was not subject
to content review or censorshi p by the
un i vers ity prior to publication.
Special Circuit Court J ud ge Charles
According to
the opinion.the student.
David A. Lentz., was arrested in October
1994 and charged with indecent expo
sure after he allegedly e xposed himself to a
university
custodian in the bath
action and such protection applies with ,
no less force on the campuses of State Universities than in the communities a1
large."
The judge also ruled that the anicle
letter.
Approximately six months after the anicle about the
incide nts ran in The
it was being sued by Lentz.
him and offered to drop the charges
First and the Founeenth amendments .
tion. The Tiger staff complied with
Lentz's request to not publish the
that later that same month, the custo
v.
freedom of speech and the press are protected against interference from S�te
that was sympathetic to Lentz's s i tua
Tiger, the uni versi ty recei ved notice lhal
dian,
Clemson Univ. , No. 95-CP-39-66 (Ct. Common Pleas. Pickens County Dec. 20, 1995), "The basis ofthis well-settled holding is that by the terms of both the
later when they re the editor
ceived a letter to
room of a residence hall. Lentz cl aimed
B . Si mmons Jr.. said in his order in LenTZ
Report
Julie
dent Media Organizations.
school .
1 4 SPlC
to
Walters- Steele . Clemson
l awsuit filed agai nst the
responsible for i tems published by
1 994.
A c c ord i n g
studen t media organization
published in
sion of the story was published in lhe
,
for m aterial published by a
over what
campus. No one has ever
been charged for the theft of the newspa
Debora Hendrickson. approached
against him i f he gave her money. Lentz reported the incident to campus police. Hendrickson was later
arrested
and
c harged with taking money to compound or conceal an offense . The charges against
Lentz were dropped .
The Tiger initially ran a story about the
incidents in their Oct.
85 percent of
28 issue. Nearl y
the copies of this issue
(approximately press run) were
1 0,000 out of a 12.000 stole n from distribution
Walters-Steele said that the univ ersity
supported lhe newspaper in the lawsujt filed by Lentz and that she was satisfied with lhe outcome of the
case.
A New York appellate court issued a
ruling similar to that in the Clemson case in October
1 995. The court ruled in the
case McEvaddy
v.
City
University of
New York, 633 N.Y.S.2d 4 (N.Y. App. Div. 1 995), that the student newspaper of lhe City Uni versity of New York was not an
(Su DECISION, page 15) Spring
1 996
Security guard files lawsuit against editors NEV ADA
-
A con troversia1 un der
ground newspaper at McQueen High
School in Reno has resulted in a libel suit against s tu de n ts involved with the
issue ofKuhnspeeruhsee an underground , stude nt newspaper distributed :It the school in December. (See GAI,WNG POPULARiTY. page 7). According to Lessman's complaint.
:
The complaint filed by Lessman main
tained that at least one public media
studentPatravutitLeel acharocnrx>1 (also known
as
Lee ) ,
Pat
organization repeated a poem Shoemaker wrote in the publication about her, en titled "The Snaggle- Toothed B itch." Tha( piece along with an o ther written by
published
Kuhnspeeruhsee with two friends, Jackie
Shoemaker and Mi chael Robert Berry.
dis(J'ihuled the school Shortly thC:fc·a{1cr,
The newspaper was then around
.
.
Lessman, a security officer
Berry entitled '1bey Want Their Guns," where-·,Lessnian was referred to as a -
"whore" caused Lessman "great emo· tional embarrassment and tunno i l as well as loss of pri vacy and work." Lessman is b laming Ihe parents for ,
di stric t, filed a laws uit in January again st
students and their parents. The suit claims thru three McQueen High S chool
"negligent supervision" c a using her 1 0
suffer "severe emotional trauma caus ing her to incur damages. " No trial date h as been s e t i n the case. •
counts of defamation, one co unt each of in vasion of pri v acy and assault and three counts of negligent superv i s ion . It was based on statements made in the second
Decision
,
"trigger-happy bitch," "bastard" and
employed by the Washoe County school
marks the first time a court has i ssued a simi l ar ruling for a private university.
(Cun�frOlH page 14) "agent'" of the university. Therefore, the court ruled, that the university could not be held lia ble for libelous articles that the newspaper'published.
James McEvaddy, director of buildings and grounds at CUNY's Hunter College filed a claim against the university in response to an April 1989 editorial in the Hunter Envoy thal he said was libelousaccordi ng to the court docu me nts. The edito .
rial described a11egations made by other Hunter College em ployees that McEvaddy had promoted a worker to a $50,000a�year job with 00 responsibilities, that he had authorized his employees to do electrical work: at the local police station in
return for special parking privileges , that he had sent workers
to clean up acid spills without adequate prot ective gear and that he had committed other inappropriate acts.
McEvaddy claimed that the unlversity should be held liable
for the Envoy's publishing a "false, defamatory" editorial. He argued that the presence of a faculty adv iser and the fact that the
publication received school
responsible for its actions.
funds should make the university
In upholding the trial court's dismissa1 of the case, the with McEvaddy's arguments.
appellate court disagreed
''The presence of a faculty adviser lO the paper, whose advice
was non�binding, and the financing of the paper through
student activ ity fees dispensed by [the university]. do not demonstrate such editori al control or infl uenee over the paper" as to justify liability. the court said.
Other courts have protected public schools from liability for
material published in student publications as long as they are not censoring the con tent But a New Jersey court decision Sprlflg 1 996
the Internet.
.
publication. Sandra
they allesedly distributed it to numerous other media. including publishing it on
__
The case Gallo \I. Princdon University, 656 A.2d 1 267 (N.J.
Supct'. A.D. 1 995), arose when Dominick 1. Gallo, a facilities department employ ee at Princeton, w ho resigned in 1 989 in the wake of a university investigation inlO improper use of depart
ment staff and property, sued the university several adminis !ration officials, and a slew of publications for defamation, .
invasion of privacy and constructive discharge.
The suit was in response to statements made by university
officials that an investigation
had revea1 ed
use of university
equipment and pers onnel for personal gain. A1though it did not
name them, the university's sta.tement did say that three members of the facilities staffhad submitted their resi gnatio ns.
Gallo was one of those employees.
These revelations prompted the st udent newspaper, the Daily
Prinutonian, and other campus publicatioos to name Gallo
and the other employees who had resigned. Shortly thereafter,
Gallo filed the suit.
The trial court dismissed the claims against all of the parties,
and Gallo appealed the _decision as it related to the uni versity
.
In April of
1 995. the Superior Court of New Jersey. Appellate Division, affirmed the lower court' s ruling. Gallo argued that the university should be held legally responsible for the implication in the Daily Princetonion article that he had engaged in the use of equipment and personnel for personal gain. But the court disagreed, "{T]he statements were made by the authors of the Daily Prinutonian [article]," said the c o urt s decision. ' Therefore, '
the allegedly defamatory statements that appeared in the
[Princetonian] are not attributable to Princeto n and its admin istrators . • SPLC Report
15
'
Running in circles to get athletic records? New federal laws and NCAA regulations can help you uncover valuable information you want to know but that coaches, players and administrators may be afraid to share
S
coopy 000, ace reporter for
Paper
The
at High brow College,
heard from his inside source, B ad
B reath, that the nationally ranked men ' s foosball team at Highbrow received
$250,000 of new equipment last year while funding for the women ' s team was cut for the third year in a row. He also tells Scoopy that nearly half of the players from the team are in danger of flunking out because of poor grades. Frankly, Scoopy has often wondered how some ofthem were ever admitted to academically competitive Highbrow College in the first place. Finally, B ad Breath says that the school plans to raise tuition next year to cover a shortfall i n the athletic department' s budget. Given that Scoopy and his classmates already pay $50 for a foosbaH match ticket and
$ 1 0 for a stad ium hot dog (not to men tion the $ 1 surcharge for ketchup), Scoopy wonders where all ofthe athletic department ' s money goes. Scoopy knows from past experience that B ad Breath ' s leads can only be trusted so far . He will need independent confirmation. Unfortunately, he also knows that the tight-lipped public infor mation officer will once again simply point to the framed "No Comment" sign on her wall when Scoopy approaches her. Fortunately for Scoopy, however, much of the information he seeks is available - or will soon be available 1 6 SPLC
Report
through:
( I ) recently enacted federal
legislation, (2) traditional state open records laws or
(3) the National Colle
giate Athletic Association (NCAA). While students attending a public school have probably always had a right - and continue to have one - to much of the information Scoopy needs by us ing their state open records law, private
school students were generally out of luck. In recent years, however, Con gress and the NCAA, reacting to charges of administrative abuse and poor aca demic performance by student athletes in some college athletic programs, have sought to more closely monitor the situ ation by enacting new laws and regula tions that require both public
and
pri vateschools to compile and disclose
Would you like to know...
detailed information about the adminis
-The graduation rate of football players at your school ? Compared to other schoo1s?
For example, the Student Right-to-Know
-What does the basketba11 coach at my schoo1 make ?
dent athletes. The Equ ity in Athletics
-How much money does my school take in at their concession stands?
ports comparing the amount of money
-How much did the athletic department spend on travel expenses 1ast year?
The answer to these and other q uestions may be available to both public and private schooL student media under recently enactedfederal legislation and NCAA regulations.
tration of their college athletic programs. Act and NCAA regulations grant stu dents and the general public access to college and university reports regarding enrollment and graduation rates of stu Act requires schools to compile and make available to the public annual re spent on varsity programs for both men and women. And federally mandated "Program Participation Agreements" compe l schools to generate budget re ports listing such information as athletic staff salaries, revenues from sporting events and total program expenditures. As college athletics become an ever
bigger e nterprise at many schools, the student media has an ever-growing obli gation to monitor their programs . The following guide should provide you and Scoopy - with valuable tools for obtai ning the information you need to do your job.
Spring 1 996
for non
Student Athlete Graduation Rates, Admissioos Standards and Financial Aid Information The Student Right to Know Act. 20 U.S.c. § 1092 (eHSupp. 1 993). a fed· eral law passed in 1 990 to remedy the ·perceived abuse surro unding athletic
era} aid or face other penalties compliance.
scholarships and other athletically-re lated financial aid, is one aven u e for getting access to this information. The law was also aimed at improv i ng reten
ati o n rate records must begin catalogo
tion and graduation rates.
It requires mo st colleges and un i ver
sities to issue an annual report to the U.S. Department of Educ ati on . This re port must compare the graduation rates of student-athletes to that of other stu dents. broken down by race and gender. It also must contai n the
total nwnber of students at each institution compared with the total number receiving athleti cally related student aid partic ipating in various sports. Who must comply and wMt is the pen altyfor noncompliance ? All post-secondary schools that re ceive federal financial assistance (for example. institutional research grants, federnl work-study grants for students
assistance or other and National Direct
Student Loans) and offer athletically
fmancial aid must comply. with the act. This includes almost all postsecondllry schools is su i n g
related
under the federal Freedom of Informa
tion Act, 5 U.s.C. § 552) to the Depart ment of Education.
Where can / gtl lhis iriformatibn ? Reports required under this law must be filed with the Department- of Educa tion by July 1 . 1997. Those -schools that
[For more information ,
have not been keeping adequate gradu
this da�. All the data that they have (for example, the number of stu·
ing that information on schools must report
. dents attendi ng, those receiving athleti cally related aid. etc.) regardless of whether or not they pub li sh graduation
rates. The Department of Education is
then supposed to su mmarilc the data and i ndi ca te how schools rank nation- ally. According to Department
see
Student As
sistance General Provisions; Final Rule (Student Right-to-Know Act regula tions). 60 Fed. Reg. 61 776 (Dec. 1 , 1 995)(1.0 be codified a t 3 4 C.F.R. Pan 668).] In addi tion to requirements under the Student Right-to- Know Act. universi ties and colle ges participating in NCAA competition are required by NCAA regulations, N.C.A.A. regs. 1 3.3 and 30. 1 ( 1 990). to make graduation rare (number of students grad uati ng within six years of enrollment). or persistence rate (a measure of bow many students in
of Educa
a given class return to school for the
tion regulations, schools are also sup
fol lowing year) data. broken do w n by
posed to make their
repon reasonabl y
race and gender. pu bl ic ly available. Di
available through appropriate mailings
v isio n I schools must issue graduation
and publications. Reports should also be
rate data for
kept on file for students or the general public to review
upon req ues t and must
-
the classes entering six
yeaJ,'S prior to the CWTent year. D i vision
II and m schools are req uired to issue
be distribu ted directly to p rospective
either graduation or pers isten ce rate data
srudent-athletes. lfthis infonnation can- .
annually
not be obtained from
enrolled.
the individual .in stitutions - although it is supposed to be - it should also be available by making a request (either infonnal or
as to
how many students are
These reports must list the number of
entering student-athletes receiving ath letically related aid in various spons, the total num ber of students in
the school and the aver
age graduation or persistence rat e s of previous
athletic scholarships si nce
classes for athletes and
virtually every post-sec
non-athletes. Division
ondary school - public and
private - receives some fonn
schools
I
are also required
to report: ( I ) high school
of federal financial assis
grade point averages for
tance. (Note. however, that
t he col lective group of
because NCAA Division ill
schools cannot offer ath
letically rel ated financial aid, they willnot be required
by this law to provide gradu
enter i ng student-athletes
receiving athletic aid bro
ken d own by maj or sport,
(2) average college board
cifically for student ath·
( 3 ) c o u rs e s 0 f study and (4 ) a verage time spent to graduate by ath
letes. They
letes and non-alhletes.
ation rate information are,
spe
however.
req u i red to provide the
s co res,
I 092(a )( l )(L). )
Who must comply and what is the penalty for noncompliance ? All colleges and uni
Schools that fail to su bmit a
versi ties part icipating in
overall graduation rate for students at their school. 20
U.S . C. §
report to the Department of Education would
risk
ing their e l igi b i l i ty
Spring
1 996
l o s
for fed-
NCAA competition are
the NCAA's (Set Athletic. page 18)
subject to
SPLC Report 1 7
,.>
spent on men' s varsi ty
Athletic
(ContinULdjrom page 1 7)
the revenues
of money
quirements than do Division
II school s, while Di vision III
schools do not risk losing their fail to release theirpersistence rate data would be in viola tion of NCAA regulanoDS and
f"-
I
wouldbe subject to lesserpen
I
lion?
The NCAA annually pub
.
lishes two books compiling the graduation orpersistence rates. Each book cos ts
$ 1 2 and may
I
I
be purchased directly from the NCAA' s main office in Over land Park. Kan. at (913) 339- 1 900. They are shipped fourth class mail and should be received within two to three weeks. Rush mail is available for an additi onal $3. reducing the shipping time to about a
week.
All high schools are gjven free copies �f these boob annually . They can usu aUy be obtained from a guid ance couo selor. coach or another school official. Unlike the Studeot Right-to-Know Act, lhese NCAA regulations are being cur rently enforced.
Financial Information Relating Men's and Women's Sports
Athletic
to
program financial data bro
ken down by
gender
can be obtained
In Athletics Act. 20 U.S.C. § 1092(g) (Supp. 1 995). a federal law passed in 1 994 to address the un equal re�urces tradition al ly al located using the Equlty
to men ' s and women 's athletics.
It requ ires every coeducatio na l rol
lege and university
that recei ves federal
funding and that participates in intercol
leg iate athletics
ann ual re This re po rt
to malc::e an
port publicly available.
should compare the amount of money 1 8 SPlC
Report
I
J
mation i ncluded in the
1 ,1
I
least once annually in a
,
publication, such as an
model form is available from
0
varsity team s and (4) the average annual
tant coac hes of varsity teams.
be individual
If this information cannot
amount of annual revenue generated by
ass is
W1w must comply and what is the pen
alty for noncompliance ?
Every coeducational. college and uni
venity-public and private-
with an program that re ceives federal fmancial assistance (for intercollegiate athletic
example. institutional research grants,
federal. work-study assistance or other grants for slUdents and National Direc t �tudent Loans) is subject to this law. Schools that do not comply with this pro vision risk losi ng their federal fund ing.
I get this information? There is noregulation i ndicating where the reportmust be made available. How ever, the Department of Education sug gested in its regulations that if copies Where can
the
I
the Department of Education.
recruiting student-ath letes, ( 3 ) the
were left at
The first report should be av ailabl e by October I . 1 996. Since lhe same infor mation is required of a l l schools, amandatory format for the report will not be im posed. However, an opti on al
,
obtained from the
t
salaries of the head coaches and
insti
tution bulletin or newsletter.
I
I
I
reports but the
widely circulated school
-
I
to infonn
regu late this requirement. The Department does. however, recommend that notice of the reports ' availability be given at
'� ----,., S � l. I\lbI\1
be
Department of Education wi l l not
/
-
�Gs
I
I
allies to be determined by the NCAA enforcement division. Where can I get this ill/anna
-
fees.
This l a w requires schools
and other resources spent on -
general public can
students oftheirrighuo obtain me i nfor
dent-athletes by gender, (2) the amount
re
ever, Division III schools ttuu
and expenditures for each
also include: ( 1 ) a athleti cal ly related student aid awarded to stu
competition.
the
charged reasonable copy
compari�n of the amount of
w i l l not be eligible to compete in NCAA
eligibility to compete. How
Members of
well as list
The repon uwst
with these regulations
Division I schools have stricter
as
team.
regulations. Division I and II teams that fail to comply
sports programs
to that spent on women ' s ,
intercollegiate athletic
t
.
institutions. though it should
also kept by the De of Educ ation and should be a vai lable by sub mitti ng a request, either inform al ly or under the federal Freedo m of Informa
be.
it is
partment
tion Act.
[For more information. see Student As
sistance General Provisions; Final Rule (Equity in Athletics DiscJosureAct regu lations), 60 Fed. Reg. 6 1424 (Nov. 29. 1 995)(to be codified at 34 C.F.R. Part 668). )
Athletic
Department Budget Infor
mstion
Detailed financial. information about a
school's
sports
program
federal law. 20 U.S.C. § I 094(a)(1 8)
which requires schools to c ompi le program participation agree ments. This law was passed in 1992. (Supp. 1 993).
like the Srudent Right-to-Know Act, to combat perce i ved abuse concerning ath
letic fund ing. It requires most roUeges or uni versi ties to compile annual reports that detail the revenues and expendi
can be attributed
offices. admissions offices. libraries or
tures
sent to
school ' s sports programs.
each student by e-mail. this re quirement would be satisfied. Students, prospecti ve students, parents or coac hes may not be charged for this information.
can be ob
tained by i n vo king righlS under another
that
to
their
Revenues include. but are not Limited
to: ( I ) ga te receipts,
enues, (3)
(2) broadcast rev
appearance
guaran tees and
Spring 1 996
·��. p •
0
options and (4) concessions and adver
may not impose an unreasonable burden
federal laws discussed above you may
tising. Among the expenses that must be reponed are: (1) grants-in-aid (2) sala ries (3) travel, (4) equipmen t and (5) supplies. Who must comply and what is the pen airy for noncompliance ?
on the requester.
want to contact the following individu
Every coeducational college and uni versity
-
public and private- with an
intercol legiate athletic program that re cei ves federal ftnancial ass i stance and offers athletically related s tudent aid
(does not include Division III schools) is subject to this law. Schools that do not comply with this pro visi on risk losing
These records will probably be kept at
als:
the athletic department offices or with
Paula Husselmann. Department of
the school ' s financial officers. Due to
Education s pec i ali st responsible for the
the flexibil iry given to institutions in maintaining this information, there are various places that these repons may be
S tudent
to
Right
know
Act.
(202)708-7888. orDavid Lorenzo, De partment of Educati on specialist respon sible for the Equity in Athletics Act,
kept. ...
...
*
(202)708-7888.
I do if I have problems aoy of the records described. above?
gested by these parties and are still hav
These are new federal laws. As a re
ing trouble, you may want to consider
What should
or questions obtaining
Finally. jf you use the methods sug
un
filing aformal. written complaint against
aware of their obl igations and it will
your school with the Inspector General s
probably take some time for institutions
office at the Department of Education.
Beginning July I, 1 995, schools had
to leam how to effectively implemen t
You can write to the office at: U.S.
six months after the close of their fiscal
year to prepare and make the repons
them. Indeed. part of your job may in clu de "educating" scho o l officials of
Inspector General.
available fOT public inspection. While
their responsibilities. While you should
SW. Washington. D.C. 20202- 1 5 1 0, or
many schools must have their reports
be understanding. you shou ld also be
call (800) 641-8733 .
available now, a few reports may not be available until January 1 . 1 997 (for ex
ftrm. You en
ample, where a school's fiscal year ended
hoped that most schools wil l be coop
Iune 30. 1995). Your school's due date
erative, i nevitably some reporters will
Walsh , Director of Research. National
will depend on the timing of its fiscal
run into roadbloch.
Collegiate Athletic Association, (9 1 3)
cheir federal funding.
When can I get this infonnation ?
sult. many administrators may be
-
and your readers
-
Department of Education. Office of the
600 Indiana Aven ue.
are
ti tled to this inform ation. While it is
In the event of trouble, it will be im
year.
'
For more information about the NCAA can contact: Ursula
regul ations. you
339-1906. Ext. 7421.
The Department of Education has said that schools may implement their own
portant to put all requests in writing. Generating a paper trail is necessary for
Until the "gli tches " are worked out of
reasonable guidelines for making these
both personal reference and for holding individuals accountable. Initial problems can be directed to the Student Press Law Center at (703) 801- t 904. For�re spe ci fic questions or concerns about the
these new federal laws, you wil l prob ab ly find patience a necessary tool in obtainIng the infonnation you want Even more important. however, is knowledge
documents available to the pub lic . For
elUUnp le
.
they may establish special
times to view them or require an ap poinunent. Such guidelines. however,
Spmg 1 996
and pers is tence.•
SPlC
Report 1 9
_,
Students v.
P rofess i o n a l s C onfl i c t s between a col lege paper and a com merci al d aily h ave led to the courthouse i n a battle o v er access to records a c l sludenl n e w paper a n d a proft;s
IOWA - Conlli ' I S bC l wec n Iege
sional ne wspaper i n Ame hav m de
their way 1 0 coun 10 the
in
11
Suil o ve r a cess
ruden! newspaper' l> rec rd .
Partnership Pre
. I he paren! com ·
pany o r th.:: Arne c i l new paper. Til Daily Tribune. filed u i l in No ember agains.r \be publicillion board al l wa
fu-ed to turn over docu ments rei aling 10 market ing and ad v c r · l is.ing b ud ge !, stralegy nd plan Ix·
t h e new. pape r' caus
they claim those records are ex
th open rc ords law. president of Pan· nership Press and t:o- wncr of The Daily Tribune. said thaI .the Tribllne onen chaJ · len gc. public htldies that do nOl. com p l y
empt from
G ary Gerlach. the
S rrate Un i versi ty . The board oversee the operations of Lhc
Iowa Slalt' Daily. the tudent newspaper at the s hool . Partnership Prcss claims !hal !he' b< lard is a government body and therefore �hould . sub ject to Ihe I w a ' s O p e n Records Law. Th rcc cds ft.'
Ihill are nOJ public u nder records Inw and Ihal the publ ication board is not a public body �ubj Cl IO these l aws. He said the laws u i t was fi Jed premature l y and d
·tl m e n l ·
the oren
contai ns i nBccurnc i�.
lhis I' a w s u i t w i l l be B«I I , a j our· nal ism professor al Iowa State and 8 member of the publicat ions board. Bedl said me Iowa Slole Daily has a great poten Ijal lo be hun by ,\J1is suit. The lrial is scheduled ror "We hope
Ibrown OUI." sBid Tom
laiC September.
There arc many other d is· pUles rag i n g berween the twO
newspapers aside from the " record.s suil.
and agendas from t he
Been and olhers h a ve said thaI lhi s ·case is nOI ;IDOUI. records. but the suit is
meeling
� i mpl y lhe cUlTenr
qucsled i nclude i n fonnalion
aboul lhe by-Ia mLout
�
i n ce Janu 1 993. corre pondencc and
board 's ary
of the b ard.
contrac
w ilb \J1e u n i versil)'.
uni versity benefi
to em pl oy
ees. u�e of univers i l y equip
ment and f i l i lics. financi'll n:cords. employmcn! rcl,; rd ' and contract and adveni. i n g and marketing f the low" ICIf Daily. The Iowa Stale Dail" h I U nled vcr S mc record . aboul 2_0 page of documentl>, I an all mey for Pan ncr .
s h i p Pres .
The board sajd il tu rned
records v l u n l ari l y ,
s i nce
I h e record are nOl ubj
record
law
!".
vcr i l ieve.
I 10 Ihe open
an entity i ncorporated
scparule l y rrom L h · uni
20 SPLC Report
it I
weapon be
the baltic. B o\J1 sides have sianerl new p;lpcts that com pete wiln ¢.ach othc r on and ocrcam p u s . Pan · ner�IJ i p PrI;'SS i � 'cum:nlly dis· u i b uti ng IWO newspapers. one J i med at fa.:ully and sraffand one ni med at S'tudenlS, on lhe I rlY.. a S UIte t:: ampu,S. Panner hip Press has fi led u n fair rnpelit ion daim again. I Ih uni versil about the Dail " compel i n g ing used i n
crs i lY . II
n:-
wilh
t he
ren record I
ws.
He 'aid t he
nd corpo land to m e . ure public bodies arc abidi ng by the l aw " . The publications board. h aid, i an ann ofl.he u n i ers i l )' and therefore i a public body . Jeff lei n . a m mller f Ihe puhl ica I i n. board and a ICl:lurer at Iowa lU l e , '>ai d lhal Til Daih' Tribune ask\:d or paper has made i t an cditorial
rale
.
publ icalions. Thoy claim IJlC sch paper h
en. i n
::11 the u n j vcrsil.
advanulg
i ncluding
I
in being
free
rent
and a �Iudcnl sub'cri ption fee . Ded i sllid I h I Pannership Pn!ss ( u
IOWA STA TE. pogr
21 J
Spring
1 996
Iowa
State
(ContinuedfrQ/fJ page 20)
has the advantage of free legal counsel, a mucb greater @01lpense
'
than what the �owa State Daily gets from the university. Gerl ach and Midulel Gartner, owners of The DailyTribune, are both lawyers: Beell said several members of the Tribune's board are also attOrneys. The un i versiry has also i n s titu ted a new policy to deal with the distri bution of three types of publi cati on s - university sponsored, free non-university-sponsored and sUbscription
non-university-sponsored publications.
University-sponsored publications, like the Daily, can dis
tri bute at 4 1 loc ati ons around campus. The Tribune's paper
aimed at students, The Campus Reader, is a free non-university sponsored paper and can be distributed at seven locati ons and
Sludenl d o nn ito ri es .
The disputes between the two side s seem to boil d own to competition, according to Dick Haws, the editorial adviser to the Daily. He said in the past few years , the managers of his paper have become more aggressive about increasing circula
of the campus. Latel y , the paper retreated from some of the areas to try and calm the
tion and advertising o utside
has
dis putes .
Gerlach sai d he believes the s tude n t paper' s pro fes sional
managers have taken many opportuniti es away from the stu dents . He said his goals are to get the s tudent newspaper back in to the hands of the students and to protec t his business from unfair com peti tion , The number of professional managers have not increased in the past few years, acc ording to Janette An tisdel , the pu bli s her of the Iowa State Daily. In fact, she said, severa l positions for studenl'; have been created on the busineSs side of Ihe ne ws pa per to give the students hands-on experie nce . Antisdel s ai d ber rol e, and that of the o ther professionals workin g at the paper, is to perform her responsibilities and to teach the s tudents working at the pape r about the business side
of running
a
new spaper.
Bee1l said Gartner and Gerlach have been able 10 hide their
true motive
-
maximiting profit - under the First Amen d
ment. He s ai d , 'They are not the noble protectors of press
freedom they pretend to be."
B ee l l said profe ssi on al managers have bee n doing the same
jobs at the student new s paper for decades. He said many other large college newspapers have similar pro fess io n al staffs .
Beell said professionals run the business side of the ne wspaper
and stay co m plete l y out of the edi tori al and news side.
The Daily
Tribune is losing m o ney , Stein said, so they are
trying 10 survive. "Competition is fine, but a fri volo us lawsuit is not," he said.
After the lawsuit and unfair competition claims are decided , He said the two sides will probably still have a strained relationship . In the end, the future of both newspapers may be at risk .• the hosti li ty will proba bl y continue, Beell said,
Spring
1 996
<Experts say healthy " leads to �ship o 'f�l�ti, ., ' 'POSItIv e expenence i
' '
:'
"
,"
•
' ' .'
', "',
'
: •
"
C ��:���� "��,;���:; t:;:c=:: � at school
news
and town In m",.y�iversitytown$,joumalists p��!S �' ::�, i!l'1 in 'l 'eOOptratlve atmosphere and work
ne:w
' ilig��' ( l,O:': benctJr
print journalism, ac cord ing to Jan chlid�, p�idenH)fC6fiege' Media Advisers. i1le' lliui1enl�I)CwSf1.lper,at the University of Oregon has
a very goQll relari�m�h.ip with the Eugene newspaper, accoWi'n g '.l u, Judy RiedeL �' student paper's adviser.
�'::,�9 the; I<id.'.tpmfessjonals share their time and expen�:�'ilh the sludenl5. Sbe said'stafimembers from
the loc�J�wspapCJ;have served oo the publications board of the 'Stude·of I)�wspaper; Profes sion al journalists have also �orne',inro !he''Sru<Jent news paPer's office and talked " " Riedel saidJlietw� paperSha:ve a healthy competition for
wiU! $tu,den§.: ;./:·'
adverti$.iog,3ild stories. AII �r-SFhoOiWitba,cOTnplementary el atio ship is the Univ�� of )(;ujS;,lS; Tom,Eblfn, the ad vis� of the Daily r
n
Karr.san, said- One of '� ITl8jor reasons the two papers coexist � fu11y is that they basically have different audie�:'He'said ��coverage overlaps, but the student paper ma,i nly cl)�en; the campus and the local paper mostly , covers lhc Ii�wn, , ' .. 'The �\ll:I'erlfeconOmic strain on newsp apers could be a reason, {<;If tensions,betWeen professionals and students, , /
'
according r({Cbiltlres.s:�EVeryone is'conceTned about their ' piece of IJlc pie, Childless said, as more venues for news emerge and competition increases. This could lead to some of the .conflict be�een student and commercial newspapers.
" " , ', Student',newspapers exist to prepare people to work in comroercial newspapers, Riedel said, and commercial ne ws ' papers �y :�. the�lves- by creating conflicts with student journalists. Conflict is not necessaril y harmful, Eblin said, because stwU;nts should get used to what happens in the " real world." This i& a free country and anyone can start a paper, Eblln saio, but be is confldent that students can compete. Increased conflicts between students and professionals are disturbing, according to Childres s. Swdellt journalists have an important place in the profession. Forming be.tter relationships betwee n the professionals and students COQld be.a good way to avoid conflict. Keep ing the lin�s ofcommunication open is helpful in maintain ing a healthy rel ati onship , according to Riedel. "We try to let [the local newspaper} know we appreci a te their generosity," Riedel said .•
'
SPlC Report 2 1
Student paper sues regents o�er secret phone calls and meeting CALIFORNIA Phone calls and a back room meeting have led to a suit agai nst Gov. Pete Wilson and the University of -
Mi Iloy said thaI his requests were denied
for various reasons
many of which were "ridiculous."
Suzanne Garner, editor of The Daily Nexus, said she feels it
California System Board of Regents.
The Daily Nexus, a studenl newspaper at the Un i versity of
is the right of the public 10 have access to any infonnation
be di sclos ed. What transpired was mislead said, and more infonnation should be revealed.•
California al Santa Barbara, is suing the regents over closed
required by law to
meetings held before a vote last summer that repealed affrrma
in g she ,
action in admissions and hiring throughout the university is a member of the board of regents. The newspaper has emphasized that the sui l is not abo ut the aff111ll ative action decision itself, which has been widel y criticized, but instead about vi ola tio n s of the open meetings tive
system. Wilson
law. The paper and MilJoy are being supported by the ACLU of Sou thern Californ ia,
Lhe First Amendment Proj ec t the ,
Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, Equal Rights Advocates
and the ACLU of North
ern California.
Tim Milloy, a r�porter at The Daily Nexus and a plaintiff in the suit, said that Wil so n made phone calls and held aback room mee ting to secure votes before the public meeting
began. The B agley- Keene Act, a state law in California, says that
be filed by Mi l loy and The Daily Nexus alleges that the regents ' actions viol ated the act. meetings held by state agencies , incl uding regents, must
held in pUblic. The suit
Milloy filed dozens of requests,
m ost
of which were
denied, for infonnati on about these calls. He said he has been given different accounts by the governor 's office about what kinds of documents exist, if any.
No rth Carolina press takes on university system to ga in access to chancello r 's advisory comm ittees NORTH CAROLINA
-
Journal ists
advisory board to Sullivan.
fro m around the state have joined forces
At an April meeting, the Board o f
to fight the University of North Carolina
Governors decided to appoint a commit
for access to chancellor's committee
tee to try and settle the claim made by the
meetings.
jo urnalists.
The Nonh Carol in a Press Association and twelve member newspapers threat ened to file suit in Apri l against the university sySlem to open meeti ngs of a pl ann i n g committee establi shed by Patricia
S u l li v an UNC-Greensboro .
Chancellor. The committee. made up of uni versi ty employ ees, students and com mu nity representaLi ves, was set up as an 22 SPlC Report
Kevin Schwartz. the general manager
The Daily Tar Heel. a student news Chapel Hi ll which is a party in the complaint. said he expects that the settlement will grant journalists access to the advisory commi ttee meet of
paper at UNC
-
ings. A 1 994 amendmen t tothe North Caro
/ina Open Meeting$ Jaw says that advi-
sory committees of the uni versity must
be open to the public. Schwartz said that there are many of these advisory committees that deal with issues from athl etics to buildings and grounds. These committees can be made up of staff. students. admi ni strators and the public. The universiry' s chancellor has called
accord though some of
these meetings staff meetings, ing to Schwartz, even
the committees do not contain any staff members. Staff meetings are exempt
from the pubic meetings law . •
Spring
1 996
Three bills facing Colorado_ legislature tac�Je issue of e-mail as public r�cords
tee after a lengthy debate on the HOuse floor in February - The third bill was introduced by Senate Majority Leader JeffWetls
COLORADO:� State politicians and a SlUdent journalist in Denver have stirred debate over whether e-mail messages are covered by the Colorado Open Records Act. In January, Becky O ' Guin, a senior at Metropolitan State College of Denver, made requests to three stale legisl al ors and
(R-CoPorado Springs) in March. It was passed by the Senate
Gov. Roy Romer to see all
and is currently in the State Affairs committee of the House. O' Guin' s requests were handled differently by the four politicians. Romer and Weissmann
1 6. O ' Guin said she made
released were only i ncom i ng com-
much of a role electronic communications pl ay in government actions. She
Monument) and Senate President
incoming and outgoing e-mail messages fromlan. 1 -
turned over some e-mail messages.
O'Guin sai d the messages Romer
munications.
the requests to see how
Sen. Charles Duke (R-
Tom Nonon (R-Greeley) refused
also said her requests were
to comply with the requests. Duke
made in response to legislarion that has been introduced in the state l egi sla-
said he would r ath er go tojail than turn over the messages .
O ' Guin later wi thdrew
ber request to Duke after learning that he is not using a state system
ture. Three bills have been
introduced
for e-mail .
to define how
governrnent electronic mail
fits in to the state ' s open records laws. The first bil l . introduced by Sen. Paul Weissmann (R-LouisviUe), was killed in the
ested
O 'Guin said she is inter in taking further action to try and obtain ac ce ss to
electronic communications but that she plans on waiting unt i l the legislature decides what kind of information is open 10 the public .•
Senate Judiciary Committee. Rep. Ron Tupa' s (D�Boulder)
bill has been postponed indefinitely and is currently in commit-
u,l1Jikely on bill th{ll -8ee�� eo open files a.t 'e'etzn�ylva,nia- schools �
State supreme court grants motion to hear h.s. vote total case
of the Centerville Sentinel, the s choo l ' s student newspaper. The school's principle, Pamela Latt, to l d Wall that the vote
' iiIsn,tutibns; - "
,Rep-. Ron: Cowell'-s (D..Pinsburgh) bill is currently in the
totals would be disclosed last spring for the first time . Latt reversed her decision after leaming that no other schools in the
state
county release their vote totals. A Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge ruled in May that the
Spring
--
1 996
...
shed:lighl o'n �:al$tale,c()lleges and universities. ,The' legislalioll.would,1iUb.#t - uruversities that receive . state n'tDQmgro the state open records law, as is the case in - most-states', Currenoy,.:the law applies'only to " agencies" -of the' State, whlch'OOes, not clearly inclUde educational
Lucas Wall sued the school board and his school's student
government adviser in May 1 99 5 in an effort to try and obtain vote totals of student government el ections at Centerville High Schoo!. At the rime of the electi on s , Wall w as the editor in chief
Freedom oflnfonnation Act because they are scholastic records. The Student Press Law Center filed a friend-of-the-court brief w i th the Virginia Supreme Court in su p pon of Wall ._ �
,
"
PENNSYLVANIA, � ActiOn seems unlikely on a bitt i�intbej>eDtisY1vaniaStateLegislature that would
Fairfax Counry
School Board.
vote totals are exempt from mandatory release under Virginia' s
'(
: Ac;tio.1:l
high school open records case. The court granted a petition for v.
'.
< \ ,'
VIRGINIA - The state supreme court has decided to hear a appeal in February. in the case of Wall
' ;. ;
_
govetnrnent cOmmitte,e. Deborah Wynn, research
analyst for-higher educatiQD ib Cowell's office. said action
. -on the bill
this,teml'is ve., uilJikely. She said the Republi-
can-majority�in the legisJ,ature,is' not interested in the issue.
Cowell fust introducedthis legislation in 1 992 session of the state legisiature. He reintroduced the bill in 1 994 and again this January" �======================
----
SPLC Report 23
School settles suit, releases data
Rutgers University agrees to release its salary, budget inform£\tlon NEW JERSEY - Rutgers University professors part of the� compensati �n has settled a suit
brought
as
by a profes
packages.
sion al newspaper seeking access to the school's salary and budget information.
Rutgers. in refusing to release thedocu
ments, claimed that they were "confi
The East Brunswick Horru News re had
de ntial personal information"
ject
ceived most of the documents it
not sub
to public access under the law.
New Jersey ' s freedom of information
requested through the settlement, ac
cording to Arlene M. Turinchack, an
law sta tes that "all records which
are
attorney for the paper.
required by law to
the state university refused to release
or kept on file by any board, body, agency, department or official of the
Home News filed suit in August after
documents containing information about
State . " . shall for the purposes of this act be deemed to be public records"."
employee compensation packages, bud
gelS , audits and other issues.
Turinchack said she believed Rutgers
The freedom of infonnation requeslS by the HOI1l£ News for these documenlS stemmed from the newspaper le arnin g that mongage subsidies and housi ng al
settled
judge ruled that the school bad to rele ase documents about the university ' s attor
neys to a teac hers ' union .•
S"e ttlement agreements are public according to two court decisions menlS
from public access, "then all pub
courts h ave ruled that schools must
lic entities would be able to shield records
and teachers.
their attorney for safekeepin g. " The Daily News and the University of
rele� information about settlement agreements reached between schools Last December, a state j udge ordered
otherwise accessible by sending them to
Maine have been involved in two other
the University of Maine to twn over
disagreements over se tt lemen t records"
reached with a former professor who
the other case is currently pending.
informati on a bou t a settlement it
was ftred for allegedly i n flating the
col lege credit of a colleague's son.
'The
the school in federal court saying that he was wrongfully rued and the school seuled the case out
professor sued
of court.
Bangoe Publ.ishing Co" owner of the
Bangor Daily N�s,
filed s uit against the school after it refused to tum over portioosofthe settlement that the school said were held by the insurer and the school system's private attorneys. Justice Margaret Kravchuk said in her decision, in Bangor Publishing Co. v, Univ, afMaine, No. CV·95-223 (Me,
Super. Ct. , Dec. 4, 1995) if the uni ver
sity was correc t in shield i ng these docu24 SPlC Report
with Home News because of a
recent court ruling against the school. A
lowances were provided by the school to
MAlNE & VERMONT - Two state
be made, maintained
Records were
turned over in one case,
In January, a j udge ruled, in Times A rgu.r Assoc. v. Duxbury Sclwol Bd. , No. 399-8-95 (Vt. Super. Ct.. Washing ton Cty., Jan. 1 8, 1996) in Vermont that a scbool board must release information about an agreement reached with an elementary school teacher. The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus filed suit against the Town of Duxbwy School Board after the board refused to release a portion of an agreement that related to an inciden! between the teacher and a student that led to the teacher ' s suspension.
Thejudge also ordered that the school board pay $ I 0,000 of the newspaper's legal fees .•
Air Force " cadets print private paper COLORADO - The Air Force Academy publishes a student news paper - but if you are not a student
there you would never know it. " The Warrior Update is only dis tributed inside the schoo l ' s gates and its content is cleared pri or to
pUblication by officials at the acad emy.
Ajournalist from a local newspa
per, the Gazette
Telegraph, had
to
submit freedom of information re
q u es ts to the Air Force Academy si mply to obtain copies of the news p aper. The
Air Force Academy is the
only servic e academy, of lhree. wjth
an official cadet newspaper. The
1993 every two months durjng the school year. An underground newspaper, The DoDo. has been published for years . • paper has been published since
Spring 1 996
Court decision allows release of coDlpJaints, faculty evaluations, disciplinary records MICHIGAN
A slate appeals court ruled in March that portions of adminis trator and teacher personnel files are not exempted from disclosure under law. The documents at issue include perfor mance evaluations, disciplinary records and parent complaints. The decision was handed down in two cases that were combined on appeal. In both cases, the circuit court had also ordered the records to be disclosed. In the first case, the Lansing Associa tion of School Administrators sued the Lansing School District Board of Edu cation, Lansing School District Superin tendent and the Lansing District Person nel Director/Associate Superintendent. The case, Lansing Assoc. of School -
Administrators Bd. of Ed.
,
No.
v.
Lansing School Dist.
1 633 1 6 (Mich.
Ct. App.
March 26, 1 996), started in 1993 when the Parent Support Network, a group whose mission is to monitor the educa tion process on behalf ofAfrican-Ameri can students and their families, med a freedom of information act request to the Lansing School Board. They re quested copies of performance evalua tions for nine principals and vice princi pals. The administrators' union filed suit against the board to prevent it from disclosing this information. In the second case, teacher Christine Bradley sued the Board of Education of the Saranac Community Schools and the Saranac Community School District to prevent the release of her personnel records. The father of one of her stu dents filed an FOIA request to obtain disciplinary records, written complaints,
classroom transfer assignments, teacher evaluations and service ratings and li ability insurance policies covering Bra dley. The court ruled that the records re quests did not invade the privacy of the school officials in either of these cases and ruled that the documents are not exempted from disclosure under the law. The administrators' union argued that their collective bargaining agreement had a clause that said the evaluation of administrators would only be reviewed by uappropriate administrative person nel" and thus should exempt the evalu ation from public disclosure. The court rejected this claim and said that "the defendant school district may not elimi nate its statutory obligations to the pub lic merely by contracting to do so . . . . 'W
Records on student
Judge grants parent access
performance still
to child ' s school records -
closed to the public
MICHIGAN & MONTANA
Court rulings in two states have denied access to public school records relating to recog nition of student achievement. In Montana, the state supreme court ruled in Becky v. Butte Silver Bow School District, 906 P.2d 193 (Mont. 1995), in November that the Butte-Silver Bow School District does not have to release records relating to a high school student's denial of membership in the National Honor Society. The court ruled that the files requested were not "documents of public bodies" under the Slate's "right to know" provision. In January, a Michigan circuit court ruled that Johnson Creek School District did not have to release records used by school offIcials to decide the winner of a college scholarship. In her ruling, in Wisconsin ex reI. Blum v. lohnson Creek School District, No. 95CV-324 (Wisc. Cir. Ct. Jan 1 9 1 9%), Judge Jacqueline Erwin said that "the disclosure of students' marks is not mandated by public-records law." Elizabeth Blum, a high school valedictorian, sued the district to try and obtain information after the scholarship was awarded to another student last spring . • -
,
Spring 1 996
TEXAS A · slate appeals court has approved a parent's request to a local school board for copies of his daughter' s disciplinary records. Justice Maurice E. Amidei ruled in February that the Texas Open Records Act required the Klein Independent School District to turn over the records requested by Robert Lett. Lett had asked to gain access to information relating to his daughter's low conduct grade in choir class at Doerr Intermediate School" in the fall of 1 993. The school asked the Texas Attorney General to rule on the release of the information requested. The attorney general listed 64 pages of information he found subject to disclosure. The school then filed suit against Lett to overturn the attorney general's decision. Amidei, in Lett v, Klein Ind.ep. School District, No. 1 4-941 1 08-CV (Texas Ct. App. Feb. 22, 1 996), overturned a lower court ruling for the school district that denied Lett's request. In his decision, Arnidei said, "Having found that the documents are discoverable and do not concern policy-making but only implement existing policy, we find that the documents are subject to disclosure." Rob Wiley, Lett's attorney, said the records have not been turned over and that the school board recently decided to appeal the decision to the slate supreme court . • SPLC Report 25
Access granted to records and Dleetings
of groups allocating student activity fees ' : NEW YORK - Organizations at public u nive rs ities that
meeting of the LaGuardia Community Co�ge
As: - ialion, a
allocate student activity fees have to open their doors and records accordin g to two recent state court rulings.
group ma de up of faculty, st uden ts and administril.iors. Both are students at LaGuardia and Smith js the ed itor of The Bridge
Via Cho.ncellor for University Relations , RJl No. 01 -95-
school.
G. Bradley ruled in January that the Student Polity Association at the State University of New York at Stony Brook is a public body and thus is subject to the state ' s open records laws. 1be association is responsible for spending mandatory student activity fees. Bradley ordered that the association turn over all the docu ments requested by The Stony Brook Statesman, the school's student newspaper, regarding a decisi on made by lhe group to s pend $ 1 2,000 on a television consultant. Last March, the newspaper discovered that the executive branch of the association had awarded a co ntrac t to a television consultant the previous October. The c on su l tant was hired to advise the student-run te levision station at SUNY - S tony Brook. The lead consultant for NlA Entertainment. the con
cated and o the r decisions were made. The state court judge in
In the ftrst case, The Slony Brook Stausman v. Associale
ST598 1 (Sup. Ct. Albany Cty. Special Term, Jan. 22, L996),
Jud ge Vincent
sulting company. was
a
former student association president
fri e nd of then-president Crysta l PIau. Flannagan and the former edito r in chief, Thomas Masse.
and a
student newspaper. Maitland is a broadcast journalist at the At the meeting,
$88,000 of stud ent activity fees were allo
Smith v. City University ofNew York, No. 122489194 (N.Y. Cry
Sup. Ct. Jan. 25. 1 996) ruled that the state' s open meetings law does app ly to bodies th at allocate student activity fees.
are virtually the only legal the allocation of their student fees," said Smith and Maitland's attorney, Ron McG uire. Problems be t ween Smith and the college began in S eptem ber 1 993 when The Bridge p ub lis hed a controversial article that was criticized as anti-Semi tic. Since then there have- been
"The Open Government laws
protections students have o ve r
prob lems with funding of the paper, election of editors and
p u blis hin g of the ruze the
n ews paper. The school also does not recog ad viser to the newspaper because he is a part-time
professor. McGuire said o ther groups have advisers who are
part-time, however.
The p ape r has pu b li shed only a few editions since it was shut in 1 993. The last issue was published in October.
down
flIed freedom of information requests with Poli ty and the
Mc Guire said that the funds for the paper are no longer frozen,
television station
but the school has set up a complex sys tem to regulate the use
after learning that a lower bid had bee n
submitted for the project
The request asked for "all contracts and paperwork concern ing NIA Entertainment." Flannagan and Masse's freedom of
of funds by The Bridge, which have made it impossibl� to
publish a newspaper.
After the decision in January . S mi th was brought up on
i nfonnation request and appeaJ were denied.
disc iplinary charges for publishing an unautborized edition of
City University of New
McGuire threatened to file s ui t against them .•
In the other case, Joseph Smith and Errol Maitland su ed the York after they were locked out of a
the n ew spaper last Oc tober . The charges were dropped after
Administration backs down, opens doors to meeting COLORADO - After receiving pres sure from student journalists and nega
ti ve publicity from local newspa pen>, the University of Colorado III Colorado Springs has opened access to the publi c to a committee searching for a new dean. Last No'Verober, the student news paper. The Scribe, was denied ac cess to the firstmeeti ng of the com mittee searching for a dean of the College of Letters. Arts and &i ences.
The
paper ' s
editor,
Cerasani. said that she
w as
Gina willing
to go to c ourt if necessary to gain
26 SPLC Report
I
access to tbe com mi ttee ' s meetings. She
said that the story of The Scribe's troubles
I
with
the school was picked up by the media. In m id-Dece mber, the school 's chancellor agreed to meet the de mands of the student journalists. Cerasani said the meetings were
local
-
opened in order to avoid more em barrassment to the university from n egati ve pub licity.
the
The Scribe ' s demands were that
u n i vers i ty
comp l y
w i th
Colorado 's sunshine law which re
quires that the meetings be open to the public and that 24 hours notice be gi ven before meeti ng s of the
commjttee .•
Spring 1 996
C a m pus C ri m e
Student files case against Virginia Tech Lawsuit hopes to set precedent regarding judicial proceedings VIRGINIA - Wh ether j u s t i c e i s
Morrison ' s punishment to probation and
ac hieved b y
a one-hour counseling session.
a
college campus j udicial
system is a two-sided de bate . Some say it is impossible while others commend the system.
Many journalists see campus disc i
plinary proceedings as the means for a school to preserve its reputation by keep i n g crimes a secre t and s weepi ng crime related events u nder the rug. The staff of the ColJegiate Times at V i rg ini a Tech is making just this compl aint
In 1 994,
Chri sty Bnonkala
accused
Antonio Morrison and another Virginia
Tech football p layer of raping her six months earlier. When she reported the i nc i dent to the uni versity she expected justice. During the firsrhearing, Morrison was found guilty of sexual misconduct an d suspended fo r two se m e s ters . Morrison was granted a second hearing on the grou nd s that the "sexual miscon duct" policy had not been drafted in time to be i ncluded in the 1 994-95 studen t code. He was found guilty of a busive conduct and was again suspended for two semesters . Seventeen days before the rust football game, university pro vost
Peggy
M e s zaros
redu ced
SPJ Task Force continues fight WASHINGTON, D.C - The Society of Professional Journalists has joined
forces with members of C on gress to
push for legislation that wo u ld req uire timely access
pol ice l ogs
to federal ly required dai l y
on col lege c ampuses.
ming up support for Rep. Duncan' s bi l l , HR
2 4 1 6 , " s ai d G ordon " M a c "
the Campus
Courts Task Force started by S PJ . task force was
The
c reated to support more to campus disciplinary proceed ings, hearings and re cords when th ey rel a te (0 criminaJ be h avi or . "We are going to alert college editors to get i npublic access
Spring
1 996
from handling sexual assault complaints
through its internal judicial process.
TImes. Brzonkala felt IIiisled by Virginia Tech' s confidential justice system , which de According to the Collegiate
nied her access to records about her case that Morrison receiVed . Morrison has
also complained that the proceeding was unfair to him. He has maintained that Brzon.kala con sen ted to sex with him.
When the Collegiate Times, which learned of the incident from Brzonkala,
If Bnonkala
wins her
case,
it could
prompt universities to make more disci
plinary hearings and records open to the public. Larry Hincker, director of university
relations for V irgi nia Tech sees the carn
pus judicial system as a way to deal with violations of policies. "We must have a w ay to dea l with people who don't have proper behavior
for the community ." Hinclcer said. "We
are not trying c rimi na l actions." Ifsome
thing is re ported that we feel n eed s (0 be reported to bigher authorities then we
encourage the s t ud e n t to rep ort it, Hinclcer said . Hincker said the on ly cri t i cism people can offer about Bnonkala' s case is the
tried to get informati on from school
way the hearings were handled. "Some say we handled the second hearing with
officials regarding th e case, it was turned
favoritism," Hincker said. "We handle
Buclcley Amend ment , the federal law
time we've ever had public complaint."
d o wn . The school cla imed that the
over 800 issues a year. This is the frrsr
As a resu l t, the campus newspaper could
Terry Padalino, ed itor of the Colle giate Times, comments, "Virginia Tech will never ch an ge the campus judicial policy unless someone makes them.".
volved in the fight." Rep. John 1. Duncan's (R-Tenn.) bill
college
th at says schools can be pun ished for
rel easi n g student educati on records, pre ven ted it from releasing the information.
o nl y report the situation based on
inter-
woul d amend the Higher Education Act of 1 965 to require open campus security
crime l ogs at institutions of bigber edu cation,
'The bill would req� specific
information be in the l ogs including the
names of those
arrested.
McK.erraI said the battle will not s top
at opening campus police logs.
The task force
"We are shi fti n g our energy into drum
Mc Kerral. presi d en t of
Brzonkala has filed an $8.3 million lawsuit against the university. Her suit challenges the secret disciplinary sys tems used by colleges to deal privately with student offenses from theft to gang rape . She wants Virginia Tech barred
views with Brzonkala and Morri son.
for
Congress
will continue to push
to clarify
that criminal
records are not-educational records with re g ard to the Buckley Amendment, and
its privacy provisions, McK.erral said. Buckley Amendment is a federal law saying schools can be punished for releasing student education records. McKerral said dult since the national media bas pi cked up on the Virginia Tech case they will help educate the
The
public abou t the probl e ms that exist on
campuses and help on openi n g
up judicial hearings on crime.
"The interest that the major media outlets have sparked is helping the Task Force," McKerral said. "You don ' t �t the attention of Congress until the major media report on it." McKerral said he hoped legislative action on Duncan' s biII will begin by 1 997. Rep. Duncan's bill curren tly has 24 cosponsors. It is awaiting action be fore the House Subcommittee on Post secondary Education, Traini ng and Life lon g Learning. In Macch the National Newspaper A s sociation ' s B o ard of D irec tors unanimously approved a cesolution aslc. ing Congress to protect open access 10 police records , including campus police records.•
SPlC Report 27
Free Pre ss?
Controversial sto ries spark censorship claims by newspaper . TEXAS Controversial stories have led to allegations of ceosorsb.ip at In c arnate Word College in San AntOluo, acc ording to 10hn Tedesco, a reporter for the school' s student newspaper. -
tion [0 try and work out these problems.
Administrators at the school would not
c omme nt
to the Repon.
Tedesco said censorsbip bas long been
a problem when controversial stories
The repbt1�(�&:,'yi¢w ' JOM T�th;sco, a.rt!por1irforJ'hi 1...{)gos, th �. slud�" 'lIe'wspape', :m
working on a
come up at the newspaper. He said that
lnc.amaJe,WQ,,qCoJ/t.g.e. ";riJie lij#�
accused of sexual assault by a student.
according to the student handbook and bylaws, these incidents s houLd never
opi�ioll
Last fall, Tedesco
Wag
story abou t a basketball coach who was
Adminislrators claimed they were wor ried about possible libeL in t he piece so they asked if
the
have occurred .
The student handbook says, "In the
delegation of edito rial responsibility to the students, the in
school ' s attorney could look the story
stitution m us t pro vid e sufficient edito
over.
The story ended up
rial freedom and fi
bei n g read by sev
eral a.dro.inistrators and the attorney who
a revised version of the story ran in The Logos, a week later
than planned.
Tedesco said he believe s the admin istrators were m ore
worried about the
�--- L
R---=---:J
... . . HE'R(. THf FI� · SIGI-JS (J: UFf &6 1 � 10 5tJRFACE" AS THE' _ C I2AO::S . lliE Will U\IE' A FULl _ IF IT SUR\llVFS . TIIE _: . . ..
school' s image than any Ubel in t hi s story, "It i s a pretty harmful practice when [the admi ni stra
tion] can feel okay about putting words in our mouth," he said.
The most recent incident happened i n
January when Tedesco was working on a story about a resident assistant at the
school who was pregnant. Tedesco said
he and AJex Garcia, editor of The Logos, received
•
pressure from some adminis
trators not to run the story. They went ahead and published the st ory despite
.
.
.
It goes on to say, "The s tude n t press should
be free of censorship a n d a d v ance ap
pro val of copy, and
Garcia said that these i ncidents of ce n
are part of the reason he is not going to work at the newspaper after
sorship
this spri ng. He said
hat the admi ni s
w
tration wants is a ne wsp aper run by the public relations department of the uni versity. Next year. he said, it will be
yo';l �ver
bou�J:it ':hat:�krire.s�� .
belches smoke·
to feel. pride because we ml¢e it, or
fear because the brakes don' t work..
But getting in the car and seeing
h9W it handles is itnportatitforCom munications majors. a nd
for the schooL .
healthy
That's why I'm alarmed when
the administration kicks stUdents out of the driver's seat. Administra
tors tampered with several Logos ' articles this year, which me ans our
baby is in biased hands and we're
stuck for the ride_
There's a word that describes
w h at Incarnare Word does. Let's see,
the ftrs t
pan sounds lilre sin.
them to achieve this because
Sin . . , sin . oh, yeah, censorshi p. I wish I cou ld rell you about the
no l on ger
atrocities administralOrS have COID
of the current staff will
be working at the newspaper.
.
.
nUtted, btu since we 've bee n cen sored so often, all I c an say is that
much headway. He said there is nol
HEven ifstudents get upset about some thing," Tedesco said. "by next year the issue will be gone It's like typin g on a computer for a ye ar then pushing the reset button when summer comes. All
publications board or the adrni nistra-
the work you've done, all the issues
The Logos is no newspaper, The
you ' ve raised have been erased.".
(Su INCARNA TE WORD, page 29)
the pressure.
Garcia said he has tried to makepeople
aware of the ce nsorship problems he has faced, but that he is not making
much interest on the part ofthe school's
28 SPlC Report
.
,
_ _
of probiepis;byt at JWI ift:!elongs to the students. i(; s llkt-lhe'ftrSt car
daunting bill. You don ' t know wha�
and news coverage."
easier for
.
aca
an
denUc communi ty."
its editors and managers should be free to develop their ow n editorial policies
most
.
Sure, the�gos:may Jia\l�its.st1ate
pressio n in
inquiry and free
.
-
free ex
integrity of purpose
c 3 t3'
·a;·���i�
as vehicles for
requested the story , After some conces
tween the two sides.
..
� it-�s not v� pretty, but at least Y()Q can �y it'.s yours. S()metim�, after .col)stant tUrie.. ups and encouragement. our linle . car even str.uggles to the loP 'of .Il
nancial autonomy for
the stude nt publica tion to maintain their
s i ons were made be
p�cefo(hi$ paper. pb{)ili <;:/.; : ;�;. Isn't it great . baving viewpoint pU,blish� · � .Jri¢iin 8ie· Word's (;anjpliS,? . . :-.�'.:-: ,
ctnsorihip at �:.�fhooL
there was this (bleep] who (bleep)ed a (bleep] and ended up (blup}ing. Sorry, but it's tough telling a story with all these censors around.
SDrIngl 996
Big city paper thre aten s to file suit against small college publication PENNSYLV ANIA - Stu
The Village Voice has
dentjoumalists at Bloomsburg
not taken any further acti o n
University have been left won
at this
is not picking on someone
time.
B loomsburg
de ri ng why the Village Voice
its
Uni versity
is a state school l oc ated north
of Philadelphia. The Voice i s
own size.
Last N ovem ber, staff mem bers at the campus newspaper.
that distrib 5,000 papers free of
a weekly paper utes
The Voice. received a letter
charge.
from attorneys for the Village
founded in
Voice, a national weekly based
roon
in New York City, al leging
n ame
The
paper w a s
1924
as the Ma and Gold. In 1 974 its
was changed to The
Campus Voiu and in 1983
trademark infri n gement on thei r name. The letter also
the name was changedto The
c l a im s
Voice.
that parts of the
Bloomsburg U n i versi ty paper
The Village Voice is a
weekly c ommerci aJ newspa
were "deliberately patterned" after the Village Voice.
per with a paid circulation of
1 38,636.
H a n k Domin, editor of
Bloomsburg's paper, s ai d he
Bill Green , a journal ism
the l etter. He said the actions taken
pr-ofessor at Bloomsburg and the n ewspaper' s adviser, said
was "utterly shocked" by
by the Village Voice have
brought his staff togeth er. Domin said the w ho l e staff agreed
per cau ght
the ir paper's name.
s i nce
thaI they wanted to fight the Village Voice to be able to keep
Voice's on-line edition on the Internel, which has been up
October. •
Outside publications restricted under Georgia regents ' distribution policy GEORGIA - S tate colleges and u ni versities around the state ace i n trod uc i n g new policies 10 try and c o n tro l non university pU bl i cati ons distributed on campus.
These new guidelines are in res ponse
to a broad policy developed in April by the Board of Regents of the System of Georgia.
The
Uni versi ty
egents '
r
plan
advises that non-university pu blications receive sponsorship by a student orga
order to have less restric t ions placed on the ir distribution. Stu dents would oversee edi torial cont e nt nization in
Spring 1996
he believes his school ' s pa
tbe attention of the Village Voice because of The
and they would be considered
student
publications.
Geo rgi a State University has approved a plan that bans non-university com
mercial publications not given approval
by school administrators.
At Georgia State. non-uni versity pub
l icati ons, with approval from the Office
be al one designated area on campus. The plan also bans outside commercial businesses and all n o n-i nstitutional groups from "indis criminately" adverti s i ng on cam pus .• of Busi ness and Finance, will
lowed to di stribute in
Incarnate Word (Continuedjrom page 28)
news is being ¢dited or deleted by the very institution we're reporting on. What yo u ' re reading i sn ' t the student viewpoi n t , it's the school viewpoint under the guise of student bylines. If you ask the guilty how they have been i nvol ved in censorship on . this campus. they will deny it hap pens , as censors do. But these people arekiUing academic freedo m, a v al ue Incarnate Word is supposed to trea
sure.
All r can say is, censors are a bunch of [bleep]s.•
SPLC Report 'l9
April Fool's edition creates controversy; editor fired, re-instated COLORADO
-
You're
fired ! April
Fool ' s !
That was the experience o f the editor of the Crite rion a t
I
as editor of
the
iss ue
Amendment
The
article critical of the hiring practices of security officers. School offic ials said the ar tide needed prior legal revieW and
to do w i t h i t , " s ai d
ming from an school ' s
has been
the article was held frompublication.
Officials· later realized that they cannot control the content oCtlle ·stu denl newspaper llnd let the story run ,
referred to the c ollege media board which over
I
sees the
Criterion and
l i o ns .
Fortu nate l y ,
o the r student pu bl ic a
10 cost him
according to Jason Weaver, editor of
Free Press. The student journalists
the
B orgard i s also president
his job.
On April 2, B orgard
university said it was con
cerned about possi ble lawsuits stem
Borgard . " Because o f i t
The issue
torney from outside
of the board.
was informed by the
Although the editor
school's vice president
was reinstated, college
they at
in the student- newspaper last Octo
ber.
were under press ure."
i.
rights when
tempted to stop publication oh story
the newspaper.
decided to produce an
Borgard did not expect
suspend student journalists ' First
[ u niversity o ffic i als 1
The newspa per staff
humor. Editor Mark
FLORIDA - 'Carijpus officials at Florida Atlantic UOiversity tried to
"I think the media { at ten tion ] had a lot
Grand Juncti on.
tion ful l of off-color
•
On April 8, Borgard was re-instated
Mesa State College in
April Fool's day edi
FA U officials censor a.g azn
take
a look al
bad· an at (be university
the story which ran a
week late.
of student services,
president Ray Kieft is
Sherri Pe ' a, that he
considering :-:harging the
This is not the frrs t time Fl orida Atlantic has had problems with cen
paper rent and
sorship by school administrators. In
was fired from his po
sition because of "mis
use of student funds."
B orgard con tacted
utilities. is obviously still
upset and trying to find
1973. the president of the university fired Lh.ree student editors of the news
another way to punish
paper and replaced them with univer
"He
several media groups
the paper." Borgard said.
and noti fied them of
He said the college
his firing, claiming his
could not charge them
sity employees, The studen ts
back and i n
very
lated.
space involved._
S. Court of
Appeals ruled-that the students should
much because of the amount of
Fiest Amendment rights had been vio
sued to get their jobs
1975, the U.
be reinstated .•
Northwestern b aske tb all player muzzled by NCAA ILLINOIS
-
The Nati onal Collegiale Athletic Associalion
recently reafflfD1ed its ability to strip student athletes of their free press rights.
University, was denied the right to write a column for Sports Kreft agreed to write the column and even said he would do so for free if the
NCAA regulations required.
Kreft received national attention after he created his own
web page on the Internet las t fall and he updated it throughout the basketbal) season. Topics on rus
web page have included
his relationsbip with coaches, the s tress of studying and
play i n g Division I baske(ball, and a teammate quiuing during lhe season_
30 SPLC Report
as
that
he
would be exploiting his
an athlete if he wrote a byHned article for the
magazine. The Associ ation cited article
In March, Dan Kreft, a basketball player at Northwestern
IlluJtrated.
The NCAA told Kreft position
12.5.2. 1
of their
conSlitution for their decision. [n
the fall of 1 994, a similar controversy stirred in Florida
over a footbal l player who was
his c ampus newspaper.
writing restaurant re views for
Anthony Ingrassia, an offensi ve lineman at the University of
Florida, appealed a one-game suspension fo r writing the column and violating case. The suspension
the s ame regulations cited in Kreft's was lifted under conditions that he not
choose the restaurants, pay for the meals himself and not receive pay for the
articles he wrote._
Spring 1 996
Student governments use money to control content of newspapers PENNSYLV ANIA & NEW YORK has become a weapon Co control the co nten t of college news pa
- Funding
pers across the country. Two such battles
are shaping up in New York and Penn
sylvania.
The Spectrum, a student newspaper
recei ve the money.
editor of The Spectrum, said he believes the funding problem stems from the con len t of the n ews paper although the Sruden t A ssoci ati on has noc said so. Da vid Portrun, the managing
Debate o v er the newspaper was
at the State University of New York
U. S. Justice An investi
gation was never started by the Justice
Harri sburg.
Beth Hal ler, the newspaper' s adviser, said she believes the S GA i s unhappy with the co verage in the
cent of its bud get from a $ 1 per stu
dent per semester fee paid by
the 1 2,000 undergrad uates at SUNY
paper since she started assign ing stu
d ents 10 co ver their meetings in the
Buffalo, according to Eve DeForest,
fall.
Spectrum 's business manager.
started in 1 987 by a
The SGA funds the newspaper
and 29 other clubs wi th money col lected from a student activity fee . The
stude nt referendum when the news
paper was having financial di fficul
Capitol Times asked for $ 1 ,500 from
ties.
the SGA to publish five papers in the
The Student Association has de spri ng
newspaper and called for a
Department i nves ti gat io n .
Funding problems also ex.is t at
TheSpectnlm re<:eives about6 per
nied the funding for the fal l
National and campus anti- abortion or ganizations protested the story in the
The CapiLOI Times at Penn State al
ment association.
The fee was
tions rights opi ni on piece.
Departmen t.
at B uffal o is c urrent l y in a di s p ute over fu n d i ng with its student go vern
The
sparked last fall when i t ran ao abor
1995 and
spring semester.
1 996 semesters. The Student
Haller said issue� of news pa per coment were brought up at meet
Association claims that the money is
ings
being withheld because the newspa
w he re
discussed .•
per has n o t signed the c on trac t to
fu n d i n g
wa s
also
Publications board gains strength under new policy at Northern Illinois University ILLINO lS - Journalists at Northern minois University recently won a moral victory. acc ordi n g to stu dent newspaper editor Liza Lundholm. Students working at the s ch ool' s student paper. The North ern Star. have reached a compromise with university officials over the responsibilities given to the newspaper' s publica tions board. The
University Council, the administrative body thaI o ver
wording in the policy. The publications board, under the
revised plan, will take a more acti ve role in The Northern Star b u t the final CO nlent de<:isions wi l l still rest with the students. Previously. the publications board has been involved only
with the financial aspects of the newspaper. Student journalists and administrators at Northern Ill inois have been in conflict for the past two years s i nce the journal
ism departmen t was dismantled. Re c e ntly , the newspaper's
sees the public at io ns board, decided in February on a new
long-time adviser resigned and the publication was pu t under
policy for the board I h at would have given itmore control over student publications. including content. After meeti ng s of the
overseen by
council and the board. a revised plan that gives less responsi
bility to the publica tio ns boards was a pproved . The compromise reac hed by both sides changes some of the
Spring
1 996
the guidance of student affairs. Previously, the n ews pa perwas
the journalism department.
Lundholm said she beli eves the revised p o l i c y does nOI
disrupt the Star very much. She sa id she beli eve s the paper won this battle and she is happy wi th the outco me • .
SPLC Report 3 1
News p ap er theft p roblems continue acro ss the country The probl em of ne wspaper theft con ti n ues to plague col lege campuses around America. Eighteen theft inc iden ts have been reported to the SPLC since the last i ss ue of the Report,
the total number of thefts for the school year to 22Recent newspaper theft incidents suggest two recurring theme s: student governments or school officiaJs who encour age or abet those who steal the news and student newspapers that find they have l inle or no recourse for respontiing to the raising
thefts.
For the Patriot Press
sions officials who were beltind the
incident, not lhe president
or the school administration. Papa said be believes that be tween 500 and 750 copies were taken, out of 3,000 printed.
Informer is not pursuing
legal action - Papa said be think it necessary. However, he said that be would have liked to see admi ss ions acknowledge that taking the papers was wrong. " It was one department. which almo st lied to pers pective students," he said. "ll was a very imponant
The
does not
of Central Florida
story,"
Community College,
Between November 30 and December I , about 4,000 copies of the College Voice of
newspaper the ft has
turned out to be the leas t of their problems. Ap parently in response to a s t ory a b o u t the
Glendale CommoDity College were s tol e n,
school ' s former pre s i den t, who re s i g ned
of 5 , 000 total the Ari z . . P h oen i x ,
out
printed. Editors at
amid a llegation s of wrongd oing, as many
school 's student news
500 copies of the February 23 issue of t he newspaper were stolen from distribution
said the papers - 80 percent of those
bins around the Ocala
d i s t ri b u tion .
paper
as
printed - disappeared wi thin twel ve hours of
c am pus .
Mike Harris, the staff reporter who w rote the
and copy edi tor at the States where newspaper Ihefts have occurred since the last i ssue of the Report.
con troversial story ,
said the paper recei ved p hone calls from facu I ty members who were finding the paper in trash bins. No charg es have been filed, but they did repon the theft to the cam pus police. Staff members believe that the school 's embarrassment over the story and the atte ntio n surrounding the theft i ncident may have prompted the school not to renew the contract of the newspaper ' s adviser, who has been a strong supporter of the students. Several officials at the University of Hartford in Connecti cut admitted to c onfisc ati ng copies of the s tudent newspaper The Informer from the student union and locking them away during an open house weekend in March. The reason , th ey said, was !he issue's lead story - "S tray bullets fired-strike campus apartment" - which they were afraid would scare off perspective students. Officials at the school ' s admissions of
fice maintain, and comm unic atio ns pro fessors agree, that there was no censorship i n volved beca use the papers were eventu ally returned.
Informer edi tor in chief John Papa said it was a few ad mi s-
32 SPLC
Report
James
Laug hl i n , an opinion
Voice. s ai d the paper
did ftle a complaint with the campus police. and that the paper ' s adviser sent out a campus- wide e-mail message i n forming people about the theft
and re{Juesting information about the i ndividual or individuals res po nsible.
The stolen issue contained an acticle detai ling the al l eged misdeeds of a student government official . According to a staff editorial in the paper, a student governmen t leader claimed to have been tippe d off to the the ft before it occurred, but failed
to notify the paper or any s c hool authorities. This, the edito riaJ said, " di re c tl y con tribu ted
10 the probability that recovery of
the stolen is s ues or financial repara ti on s would never materi aIiz.e," making the o ffi ci al " n olhing less than an accessory to the crime. "
Voice ad viser Larry Bohlender said h e can hardly believe the
theft occurred.
" It ' s something that yo u
read about , but I th ink it's something The social impli cations are just terrible - 'we don't l ike what some on e you sim ply don ' t think is going to happen to you.
(See THEFT, page 33)
Spring
1 996
Theft
(Continuedfrom pag� 32)
says o r does, so we'll just destroy their channel, their medium. whateverit is. .. •
Bohlender said there is not a lot the
paper can do at this point. As for closure,
the editors' letter said ideally they will be compensated. A candidate for studen t government at the University or North Carolina at Chapel Hill seemed to think that news paper theft would help his chances for election. According to a February issue of The Daily Tar Hul. student body president candidate Lee Conner admit ted that he and his campaign staffers
went to the paper's drop boxes shortly
before midnight, removed 800 copies of
the newspaper's election issue, clipped profile and put the clippings into law students' mail files while throwing the remainder of the out his candidate
paper away. Cooner said he thought it was "an
easy. free way to 8i!t the word
out."
Kevin Schwartz. general manager of
Tar Heel, estimated that the cost of printing 800 14-page color papers was $105. Conner, who lost the election. said he targeted law students because The
they traditionally twn out
for school
elections in large numbers. He main tained that be had every right to do what he did. "Everywhere I g o
,
[the papers]
said. "We knew that they recycled anyway" In a similar incident. more than 1.500 copies of the Carolina Review. UNC are free," he
would just be
Chapel Hill's "conservative voice," were removed from distribution points in classroom's around campus. The i ssue criticized the political bel iefs of Aaron Nelson, who beat Conner and two other candidates for the student body presi dency. Nelson said he fully supports the Review's right to free speech.
At the beginning ofthis year, editors in Littleton, Colo. at the Arapahoe Com· munJty College student newspaper. The Rapp Street Journal, received a letter from Student government officials. Re fe rri ng to a news paper shutdown at nearny Denver Community College, the letter warned that the same thing might happen to The Journal i f they continued making "mistakes" and "misquoting"; Spr1ng 1996
the letter also threatened to.teduoe ;or I;;ut the paper's funding for next year. Then. in March after � studeut government official's warning. "Wajt aDd see what we have in $lore for, y� ne.xt" -close to three hundred copies of a Journal issue containing a story IU'\dan editorial criticizing the student govern
Alaska .mulls
;7abd�theft bill;
-
San ':FrBncisco ·.enactS new law
ment disappeared from newsstands.
Matthew Davis, acting editor in chief
of the Jou.rnal. said tbe paper filed a report with the campw police. No
charges have been filed. however, be cause there is not any proof of who did the taking. He said the editors did have a meeting with student 80vernment offi cials to help clarify the paper's role. The entire 2,500 press run oCtile March 8 issue of the Washburn UnJvetdty R�iew in Topeka, Kan. were stolen. The issue contained a story criticizing the student government,1beeditors have filed a police report and hope to find out who was responsible. The incident cost the Kansas paper about $2,200 in adver tising revenue and four-color printing. In S eptember 1995, The Rutgers Re view one ot several student news.{>A -
pers at
the number of free newspaper thdt incidents continues to rise. law ; makers in at"l � t two jurisdictions ; . appear 10 �.ciW.ng·notice Jnd offer . 'ingtbCir sUpport to the media: In resP9ns.etQ the May 1995 their Qf.tbe'U niy�ity of Alas.ka�South As
: ,
'
;'
cast \\'hal�ng. the Alaska State
Leg.is,�tnk is cofisidering abill that
,
woulde.x.plic�tly �e the taking of. (r� newspapers a crime. Chris · 'KnIght,' ,editQf in chief of The 'Wha/�so;'g at the timcpf the tbet\is '. now working 'with Re p . Elton ·
.
trciry). �,.(R-.Anchorage) the
·sponsor.cifthe bUI. Maryland is the
'
Rutgers untvenity
Brunswick.
.. 'ALASKA & CALIFORNlA -
in New
'only.state that has such a law.
N J. - ran a controversial
column den ouncin g convicted murderer
·
. r lhc?ft inciQe�lts there. .,hNo new:spiiper in the world WQu1d�tinue to publish with the �()wfedge that copies could be de &.uPyed w.i$outlegal recourse, oor woul4'.ft:De.wspaper be able 10 ac p
and formerjournalist MumiaAbu-JamaJ.
Abu·Jamal received the death sentence
·
for killing a police officer in 1981 and is
·
appealin g his c h arge claimi n g that he
received an unfair trial. In response to the column, entitled "Fry Mumia Now," twelve angry stu d ents stormed the paper's staff meeting the next day, and later destroyed 3,500
copi es of the paper - more than half of
the 6,000 printed. The campus police were unable to apprehend any of the students involved in the protest. When the Review announced plans to press charges against the protesters, the Daily Targum (the New Jersey school's largest stu dent paper) WfO(e an editorial
condemning the decision. "Pressing
charges," the editorial said, "will only
exacerbate the situation, and nothing
will come out of it." James Cofer, author of the controver sial column and editor of the Rfiliew at the time, said he was surprised that the good
Targum did not support them. "We as(Su THEFT, page 34)
It was
en8ctedin Imatter arashofnews
.: quiiefiu:lding through advertising if ad \'Crti�rs knew ,the newspaper
, '
.
.
·
couldsiQlply � �own oUl," Knight
said· Ql �de� �o the Juneau City Attorney immediately after the theft 9f �. Whaje.fong. Four hundred ; (:(>pi� OfT1¥ WhaJ�ong were found in.� �ptacles around the Ju .n� �ampus. Knight ,sai(j he be 'lie.yee;{ at least 1.000. copies we re stolen 50 percent of the paper's press OlD. No ODe. was apprehended for the theft. AdViser Suzanne Downing said � schOOl conducted a fonnal inq�. but that nothi�g.came of it. AlasIcaHouse BiIl485 was intro duced in February to prevent inter ference with the "distribution or -
,
'
·
(See ALASKA, Page 34)
SPLC Report 33
•
Theft (ConrinuiJjrom page 33) sumed that. being a newspaper. they would stand up for the First Amend ment:' Cofer said. Review editors decided not to file charges against the students under the uni versity ' s code of conduct. "It was not worth the time it would take to go through the process:' Cofer said. Approximately 2,000 copi es of the SL
Bonagenture University student news 17u BOM Venture, disappeared from distribution racles in January. The issue of the newspaper contained a story about an alumnus banned from the New paper,
York campus.
Michele Passalugo. editor in chie f of
editor saw a student takiDg a stack of papers from the student center arou nd the time they were delivered. The Bona Venture printed a notice aski ng anyone wi th infonnation newspaper, said a news
about the theft to contact the paper or security services, but Passalugo said the
case has basically been closed. At least one advertiser. \\ith a $ 127 ad. demanded that the paper run its ad for free i n the
next issue.
Around 7,000 copies of the 19,500
press run of the Auburn University in
Plainsman were stolen in No vem ber. PlainsmDII advi ser Ed Williams said a McDonald' s insert in the issue, com plete with free food tickets, prompted the theft. The incident cost the paper $3.200, because 10,000 issues had to be reprinted to avoid losing $7,500 in ad vertising revenues. Wil li ams said this Ala.
was not the first inc ident of this kind at
the Alabama school. Williams said police thought it would be too difficult to prosecute because the papers were technically free. Suspects
were taken into custody, however, and the case was referred to the student dis ciplinary committee .
Editors of The D rummer, an alterna tive news m agazin e at Iowa State Uni versity in Ames, said they had 25 to 50 percent of the copi es of a fall i ss ue of their publication defaced or trashed. The school' s departme nt of public safety calJP..d the i ncide n t vandalism, n ot theft, because the papers were free to stu de nts. But they did offer video surveillance to 34 SPLC Report
help catch the CUlprits in
the future.
In April, approximately 500 out of 5,000 copies of Independence Maga zine, published by students at �rge Washington University in Washing ton, D.C., were stolen in front of the paper' s st ud ent union o ffice . 'The staff does not know wh o stole the papers or why but says this is the seco�d time !his school year they have been rut.
The university presi dent has offered a $ 1 00 reward for infonnation le adi ng to the arrest of the thief or thieves. An Apri l Fool ' s day issue at the Uni versity of M i nnesota at Duluth p romp ted members of minority groups to steal 5,000 o ut of a 6,500 press run. The eight-page mock newspaper, the UMD Stateschic, contained remarks about gays, minorities, feminists and the Virg in Mary that some found offe n si ve .
The parody was wrapped around the real edition of the UMD Statesman . The offended groups allegedly stole
Texas student faces criminal theft ch�'rges TEXAS - A st\.ldent accused of stealing more than 5,000 copies of the University 01 Texas at Austin's Daily Texan last August becaUse he was upset about an article detailing
charges against
him is n o w faci ng criminal charges. Corrado Giovanell a al
tried t o gain entrance to university by falsifying a let ter from a dean at the Texas A&:M University; when the Texan pub lisbed a story about the iocident, 5,800 copies of the issue were stolen from numerous newsstands shortly after they were deli.vered . . legedly the
Several students and university
the papers and then distributed the
empl oyees
requesting th e res i g n ation of Ron
ers said they were followed as
� at a
rally pr otesti ng the UMD Srateschlc and Hustvedt,
the paper 's editor in chief.
witnessed the �rs
being taken , and disoi buting driv
they dropped off the papers.
Nothing has been done to the thi e ves
because the chancellor said it was a creative an d legal form of protest, said Hustvedt. Hustvedt said the uni versity is i nves ti gating to see if the writers violated the student conduct code.
About 8,700 copies ou tof 1 6,500 news
papers were stolen in March from the
University of Michigan's daily student newspaper at Ann Arbor. AllegedJy the thieves s tole the Michi gml Daily and left signs re adi ng "The Michigan Daily has been canceled to
day due to racism" reports a story from
the Associ ated Pres s .
Megan Schimpf, the Michigan Daily 's news editor, says the
admi nistration cons iders
the stOlen pa pers theft and campus security is un der going a cl osed investigation. Since the investigation is closed, the staff does not know who is responsi bl e for the theft but believes it pertains to an editorial cartoon in the paper some thought was racist, Schimpf said. Total monetary loss is reported around
$ 10,000 .
(See THEFT. page 35)
The Austin Dislrict Att&ney' s
office charged Giovanella with
theft for the incident and is pros The case was set for trial in early May. Texan- editor Rob Rogers said TM Texan will �so likely proceed with a civil SUIt as ecuting.
well. Kathy Lawrence, general man ager of Texas Student
� blica
Rogers both· satd they are pleased that the school and the police have been so �espons�ve. The point ofpressmg the 1S�ue is not revenge Lawrence said, but liODS, and
to uphold the First Amendmen t as
it applies to the studenr press. "It's the principle," she said. Spring
1 996
Anti -abortion insert prompts campus thefts FLORIDA & GEORGIA
-
The de
bate over abortion rights has prompted
theft incidents at two coll eges this spring. On January 23 and 24. 1,000 cop ies of a 12-page paid advertisement from an anLi-abort.ion group. the Human Life AJliance of Mi nne sota Education Fund. were stolen out of the Broward County Comm u nity Col lege student newspaper
The Observer.
A disdplinary hearing was scheduled
to determine the ex.tent of the student' involvement and to determine tlw ,p'
propriate dis.ciplin;lr,
range from writing letters of apology to the staff of The ObseTVer to monetary compensation to suspen sion from school. Elam said he is grateful thaI schOOl officials have been so cooperative. As far as motive, be thinks the students involved in stealing The Observtr sim pI y do not understand freedom of speech and of the press. 'They are not joumaJjsts," he said ''They know little about the First Amend ment and college press rights, ll!ld ,they ments could
.
At least two newsstands were also
vandalized. and the paper received a number of "threatening and malicious"
phone calls and letters to the editor in
response to the inddent. Several adver
tisers also threatened to pun Iheir adds out of the paper. accordingtoJCTJ)'. Elam, the Observer's adviser.
The jncident was reported to the local
Coconut Creek, Fla. police dirpartment.
which told the scbool that nothing could
be done. Elam said the school's director of sttJdentlife, Penny McIsaac, requested that the paper not press charges with the police. assuring that if they did not, the students involved would come forward and the school would pursue disciplin ary action against them. McIsaac said three students have ad mined being invo lved in the inddent. They maintain, though, that on l y two of The Observer's bins were involved only 100-200 papers. -
just didn't want to see
WCTC slolen.
Tom Lasseter, editor in ch..ief of ,the OeKalb Collegian, said none of the thieves h ave been apprehended. Lasseter said tbe iocident was reported to campus law enforcement officials, but that DO charges were filed because there was no one 10 charge.
Contrnry lotbeellpcricnceatBroward.
Lasseter said the DeKalb administration bas 'been wholly uncooperative. "Frankly." he said, "1' d be surprised if anything happens at all.".
Theft
The
Approximately 900 of 2,500 copies of the College Reporter
were stolen from Fnmklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Penn. in ApriL
Steve Goldstein, fonner editor in chief, beli eves that it was the issue that could have
one of two co ntrovers ial stories in prompted the theft.
The staff does not know who the thieves were and the school
is conducting an investigation. Goldstein says he does not think anything will come out of the investigation. The theft was reported to the vice president of Franklin and
campus polke.
The paper was repri nted at no co st and distributed.
Sprtng
1996
(the inseril." '.
In a similar incident on JaD\,Iary 3. approximately 500 inserts presen'ting 1m anti-abortion message were stolen frOnl student newspapers at the Dc:KalbCllm· rnUility Colle.ge in Clad::ston, Ga, A week l31er, 200 �opics ui nn iSliue 4COnlaining an expose of the student gQ\'emment
(Conlinuedjrom pag� 34)
Marshall who oversees the
aCllon to take.
against them.McIsaac said the ir punish
Alaska
(Conli".I. d/rtimpo,8(33) .
newspapers and other free publications. It states that "a person commits the crime of criminal mischief in the third degree if the person interferes with the distribution of . a free newspaper or periodical or pre vents other persons from reading a free newspaper or periodical .. with the intent to interfere." The bill is currently in committee. Downing said the bill is a very posi tive step, but that she thinks it may be difficult to get it pushed through the
reading of' free
.
legislature.
"Some people just feel that fru pa
pers aren't
worth anything," Downing don't know much
uid. "[Legislators]
about student press issues."
lin San Francisco the Board of Super visors enacted an ordinanc e in March that will mm free newspaper thieves subject to a misdemeanor charge and filles of up to $500. ''The city ordinance makes it a crime to steal free newspapers and illegaJ for recyclers to buy newspapers they know were s tolen for profit. Recyclers will be required to record the name, address, driver's hcense and license plate of any one who brings in more than 100 pounds of n ewsprint San Francisco is the fJfst city to pass such a law that will protect free college srudent newspapers as well as free com
mercial newspapers .•
student newspaper at Bucks County Community Col
lege in Pennsylvania was also victim of theft in April. Between
1,400 and 1,600 copies were stolen and thrown in the trash. "Luckily we were able to recover most of them, said Michael Johnson editor in chief of the Centurion. "We don't have any idea who stole them because there wasn't anything controversial in the issue." 10 the issue after the theft the staff ran a small article asking for any information relating to the theft of the newspapers but no one bas come forward, Iohnson saiel Campus security is investigating the incident but the C�nturion does not expect the case to be solved. "We really did not lose much money because the papers ..
were recovered," Job.IIson said.• SPlC Report 36
Confi de ntia I ity
F i ghti ng subpoenas A h i gh school and a co Uege ed itor fi n al l y shut lhe door { o lengthy battles , sharing the i r experiences with others
A
l i vi n g
Stacey B·ums says
through the
thall slUdem joumalisls.
(t e r
be and now
threat of
ing arre s ted
need to
be edue ated
aboul
lhe il T
First
fac ing thc prospec t of
Amendment righlS.
whal does a sludent
man al
journaiisl do when the
State Uni \'crsity
legal fees or fi n es.
battle 10
fi gh t
B u ms, now
Mo u n tl ak e
a
hal t? Stacey Bums and
Michele Ames have
dec idcd to ed ucale
([f.I �
wh o l e
a
Scholastic Press Asso
need to come t ogether for
one
rerrace
Righ Schooli is at$O travel i n .g to talk: to dif feren t media groups. In April. she. spoke at a JoumaJis.m Edllcal"ion As-social i on/N aLional
olheno on how jour
nal iSls as
and
I h e previous ed ilor 011
a sub
poena has c ome 1 0
fresh
�
Washin glon
in San Francisco i n a ses s i o n 1! lleli "In Co n
co m m o n
ciulion convention
cause - fighti ng su b
poenas. Both editors with cou n
were faced
t e m p t : B a Itli n g Ihe
o r dered s u b p oen a s
E ros i o n
an d decided th c i n
R i g hts."
was more importanl
c l u des pieces of
legrity of their paper
or
Press
than turn i n g over i n
Bums' speech in im pu rt a n l advice. She
formation t h c police
s a ys
req u csted bUI could
press law
have
�
obtained from
jor
editor al t.he Univcrsity of M i n nesou ' s slUdenl newspaper n,c Mi1lJ1� sofa Daily. is trave l i n g t o di fferenl media groups in her region to le ll why she decided to lighl and why oth rs should also.
"Even 'though all j ournal ists are compe t i ti v e . the i ue or fi ghll ng subpoenas must be handled togeth er:' Ames aid. "W,e m U M st and and ,fight every single subpoc.n3 as a group. Alone we. are 100 sma l l . with 100 l i llie re ou ree Even a large profcSliionnl paper is u n able 10 li ghl o rran su bpoena,.; .
be.causc Ihere
jusl
come togcther 36 SPLC
Report
is n ' l enoul!h t ime. A l l journa l i sL'i mu�t
because l h o t
is
thl: only way
-10
w i n."
and ,\he m a This
preced ents.
applies t o Icache rs and
other wiLncsS1!s. Now lhst her fight has cnded. M i che l e Ames.
"know slUdent
student ed itors. Commu nil.;lit i otl
IS
the key i n gredient to
p ub lic at i on . Evcryone be i nfOrlll('(1 of whal is going on
stabi l i zi n g and mai nt.am i n g a qu:ll ilY
needs. 1 0 peelS ( l I the paper. The more communicalion you
i n the h ierarc hy wil.h al l :l.
have wit.h l he fac u l ty, ad m i n i stration andlsehool d i stric i the bel ler .
uppon
you wi l l get whcn
mC lhing
comes
up."
media pro cssi nail' :md nalional press organ izat ions." Bums adds. "Nol onl.)' arc these people gre al sources for seminars and Icat:hing pUflXlSes. but al. 0 for ad vice . These pc pie know lheir stuff and are "U
more
e
and abu
e
t oc a l
l han will ing t o hel p. " .
Spring
1 996
College editor refuses to turn over photos, paper must pay fine MINNESOTA - After a two-year editor Michele Ames at the Uni versity of Minnesota in Minneapolis won a silent vi c tory by not romplying with a
_
�ilm "
case
-�.-.. . .. -
',:llpre�olved,
holds ,.photographs -ed-itor
baltle,
c ourt
decision to turn over
WASBINGTON-Formeredi-
" t6f in Clllefofthe Mountlake Ter
unpublisbed
race -High School Hawkeye,
negatives of a campus brawl, dC!ipite the
threat of jail
and fmes.
The struggle ended on January 29 after
Judge John Stanoch found Ames in contempt of court for defying his request for the negati yes and fined the newspaper $250 for each day testimony con tinued in the criminal trial the negatives were re Hennepin County District
_
quested for.
"On behalf of the staff of the
Minne
sota Daily... we have to respectfully
decline to comply with the order," Ames tearfull y told
the judge
.
Trial t esti m o ny in the case of a student
who was accused of assaulting a police officer in the fight concluded later the same day.
"Thank goodness it's allover," said terribly sad;' she added, most of all f or the citizens of this stale. It is very sad that the Minnesota courts Ames. "I'm
..
don't rerognize the important principles of this case." The
Minnesota Daily
argued that
surrendering unpublished information (0 police or prosecutors can cause re.
porters to be viewed as an arm of the law
creating a "chilling effect" on news gath ering.
�
"We can'l tum our presses over to the
county attorney," said Ames. "When
a
journalist goes to cover an event, he does not go
there as an average citizen.
He represents his readers who can't go for themselves." The Daily
was not able to ignore the
subpoena because of the state court of appeals rul e d she was not protected by a
reporter's privilege or law.
Spring 1996
the state's shield
"It is a matter of principle," Ames said. "It would be wrong for a paper to coop erate with the courts, especially when
they can get the information elsewhere. More than I 00 people were there that night Why do they need us?" Attorney Marshall Tanick. who repre sented the Daily was positi ve about the ,
battle, despite the fine.
"I don't think this was unsuccessful," "I don 't think we lost. I think the effect ought to be embolden Tanick said.
journalists. "
"I always understood that I might go to jail for this," Ames said. "But this is an issu e IhJu our whol e paper believes in. And you can believe me, we are never going to tum over those photos," Ames said.
Ames said she was Dot sorry that she and the newspaper had defied the court order. "If 1 had to face it again, I plan (0 do exactly what I did today," Ames said after the trial concluded. A defense fund for the newspaper has $1.500 in pledges so far. The money will go 10 pay the fine and theDaily'sSll,OOO legal fees .•
Stacey Bums, has been left alone aftefshe refused laSt-year to com ply with a subpoena to tUm over photographs of a fight among students at school prosecutors 'wanted for a criminal trial. -Burns repeatedly stated m in terviews with local and national media and in her newspaper that herrefusaI to-tum over the photos was based on her concern that the newspaper remain an indepen dei1tsource ofnews and informa tiOn, nor'an investigative arm of . the police department. The paper was nOt the only wit ness, SO' the police could have -easily subpoenaed the other on lookers, said Burns. Burn's attorney, Howard Stambor, says nothing new has happened with the case in six months. "[The case) -is in limbo, and the ball is in the prosecutors court. Most likely the case win
just disappear." "Stacey wins because she didn'
have
t
over the pictures," Stambor says. "Generically, no body winson paper." "Of course, there is no statute of limitations On a contempt ofcourt charge 80 the prosecutor could open up the me at any time and slap me with tbeeharge," Stacey said. "So while I am celebrnting the fact that I am probably in the clear, I am not boasting of a com to turn
plete victory.".
SPLC Report 37
The
Student Press Law Center gratefully .
acknowledges the generous support of
An American Tradition
the following institutions and individuals without whose suppon defending the free press rights of srudenl jownalists would be a far more di fficult task. As a not-for profit organization, the SPLC is entirely dependent on donations from those who
Since 1974, the Student Press Law Center has been the only
are committed to its work. All contribu
tions are tax-deductible.
organization devoted to
A special thanks to all who made
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defending yourfree
the National Schol astic Press Associa
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tion! Associated Col legiat e Press, the Jo urnal ism Education Association and Coll e ge Media Advisers.
helping you learn about the law.
(Con tributions from December 8, 1 995, to April 24. 1 996)
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l as tic
When JOU bave a question about your
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Spring 1 996
fEf"�ort Winter
1995-% VcA. XVII . No.
1
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___________
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SPLC Report 39
NEW E D I T I O N "The
A New Version Of The Most-Used Resource On Student Press Law Is Now Available.
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only way 5IUde(llS can Pmlca tbetr fta:. cx:pression righls Is (0 know dearly what lhey are. and this new edition dc:lI!$ jUSl tIuL - CMod.... PatdDs, PIaldent. }our'naIkm
•
1101 WUson BI\'d..
STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER 1 1 0 1 Wilson Bfvd., Suite 1 9 1 0 Arlington, VA 22209 (703) 801- 1 904 e-mail: splc@capaccess.org
ATTENTION; STUDENT MEDIA
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Su ite 1 91 0
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Educadoo AHod-don .H2d such
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Nineteen chapters of infonruttion abou t press freedom, Ubel, privacy tnvasiOD, copyright, confidential sources, adviser's rights, open records laws, advert1sJng acceptability and much more. lAW of/be SJudenJ Pross is available for $ 1 5. ($ 12.50 plus $2. 50 shipping. VirgInia residents send $ 1 5.68 (0 include sales rax.). Send your check or purchase order today!
Stud.ent Press Law CeOlet'
new lPw of the $IudenJ f>rB:,:s I:; :I fOf' pul:Jtiatloo a� !Jnd Ihdr
1 just finl:shed Ic:IChlog a W'Ilt on RJght$ RaponsIbilitic:o; to my BeginnIng Journalism O:l...-.s. How I Wi5h 1 had h3d and
a copy of the book heron; band. II will be ;an �uabk rc:soun:c 1hc: book Is :l must .... .
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the furuJ'e.
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B.l.. Hall
Nclftpaper AdriIa' KIrhood 81gb Sc:hooI, Khil:wood.. MO •
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22209
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Non-profit Org. U.s. Postage Paid Washington, DC Permi1 No. 4702
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