Op-ed

The Colonnade staff would like to address grievences with a system we hold to be ineffective and unjust

Colonnade Staff

The process of getting paid for our work has robbed us of the journalistic autonomy we need to unbiasedly report on Georgia College. In January 2018, GC began onboarding The Colonnade staff as employees of the University which the school communications office claims it did to comply with IRS regulations. Our status as employees of the University puts us in a compromising position and creates a litany of issues for both The Colonnade and GC. GC’s control over our payroll is an indirect form of censorship and compromises our mission to hold the powers at be accountable. An employer/employee relationship gives the company control over the employee’s work. If GC has the power to dictate the content we produce, we cannot effectively do our jobs. This process robs the student body of an unbiased and accurate student media. Our funding comes from the Student Government Association which is paid for through student fees. That means you, the students, fund The Colonnade. GC took a school newspaper comprised of students funded by students, established indirect censorship through the onboarding of its staff, then hid behind unclear IRS regulations. Our status as employees jeopardizes our First Amendment rights. Garcetti v. Ceballos held that First Amendment protection does not apply to public employees making “statements pursuant to their official duties.” This means we cannot preserve our freedom of speech as employees of the school. “If ‘employee’ status were strictly applied, then a student journalist ‘employee’ would have no First Amendment right to criticize the college in an editorial column,” wrote Laura Napoli, the Student Press Law Center’s legal fellow, in a 2011 article on the legal issues surrounding student journalists as employees. The rights we shed as school employees run counter to those guaranteed under Supreme Court cases like Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District which protects students’ free speech in nearly all circumstances. The court held that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” On top of running counter to First Amendment principles, our status as employees strips us of copyright ownership over our work. “Under the ‘work made for hire’ doctrine, employers own and control the copyright on works their employees create while on the job,” wrote Napoli. “Thus, classifying student journalists as employees can give the impression that any work they create becomes the property of the university.” It’s important we have ownership over our work so we can use it for career opportunities like posting it to job sites or including it in portfolios. This situation is a clear conflict of interest according to the University System of Georgia’s own policy. Section 8.2.18.2.1 of the USG Board of Regents Policy Manual states “An apparent conflict exists when a reasonable person would conclude from the circumstances that the employee’s ability to protect the public interest, or perform public duties, is compromised by a personal, financial, or business interest.” The manual states agreements made between organizations and the USG—like the onboarding of Colonnade employees—“must not undermine the public’s trust,” which we contend is a consequence of getting paid by the University we’re supposed to report on. Not only is our classification as employees problematic and harmful to our mission, it’s based upon criteria that our relationship with GC does not meet. Per the USG Business Procedures Manual section 5.5 Employee vs. Independent Contractor, the IRS classifies workers as employees or independent contractors based on three primary factors: behavioral control, financial control, and type of relationship. However, there is no set formula for determining employment and every case must be looked at on an individual basis. Exerting behavioral control indicative of employment would mean GC tells us when, where and how to work which they do not. The Colonnade sets its own schedule and adheres to in-house editorial guidelines and procedures. Having this kind of autonomy usually signals an independent contractor relationship.

Financial control means GC does things such as reimburse us for expenses and prevent us from realizing a profit or a loss. They don’t. We receive reimbursement for our expenses through the SGA and have an advertising sales division capable of generating profit. Beyond getting paid hourly and being provided a place to work, our relationship with GC does not meet any of the criteria for an employer/ employee relationship. Blanket status as independent contractors wouldn’t be ideal either because we would need to provide our own office space and equipment. The state-of-theart equipment in Terrell Hall such as podcast gear Mac desktops are a tremendous asset to us. Going forward, we would like to enter a hybrid relationship with GC that resembles that of an independent contractor but with some modifications like the use of school facilities and equipment. There are examples of universities working with student media groups to create third-party options that appease both sides. “Some schools, such as Virginia Tech, have avoided any risk that students will be deprived of school resources by setting up an independent entity under which student journalists are employed, and having the entity contract with the university for office space and equipment,” wrote Napoli. “Others, such as Penn State, have avoided the appearance of direct university payment to student journalists by buying subscriptions to the newspaper for the benefit of the campus community, in exchange for the media organization’s payment of rent for university office space. In that way, the relationship is structured more like a vendor relationship and less like an employment relationship.” The Colonnade serves to report fair and balanced news to the student body, to entertain and inform and to hold the powers at be accountable. It is the student body’s right to know— our duty to inform. Until we are no longer forced to be onboarded as GC employees, it’s not just our mission they’re violating—it’s your right to know.

VOLUME 98 | NO. 7 @GCSUnade @TheColonnade The Colonnade

Editorial Board

Eric Boyd............................Editor-in-Chief Wendy Cravey..................Managing Editor Katie Dean.........................Art Director Bailey Ballard...................News Editor Katie Futch........................ Asst. News Editor Ben Grunert......................Sports Editor Raleigh Hutchison.........Arts & Life Editor Lilyana Kovacheva........Asst. Arts & Life Editor Anjali Shenoy...................Digital Media Editor Carrie Grace Irwin ........PR Manager Rob Trotter.........................Ad Sales Manager William Burke...................Faculty Adviser