Student newspapers at risk for censorship

By Staff Reports
The Collegian

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by journalism students in Illinois in a case regarding the right of school administrators to censor student newspapers.

In July, the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the administrator had the right to read and censor a student newspaper prior to publication. The finding was based upon a 1988 ruling that allowed public school officials to censor high school papers.

Justices declined to take the case without comment, effectively ensuring that the existing ruling in the case will stand.

Three students from Governors State University in University Park, Illinois, south of Chicago, sued after a university official blocked the paper’s printing in 2000 to give her time to review and possibly change the stories.

Student journalists at the school of about 6,000 had previously written stories critical of the university in the paper.

Lawyers for the three students bringing the suit had argued that college papers should be held to a different standard than their high school counterparts, which have been subject to administrative review since the 1988 decision.

Several media organizations, including the Associated Press, had filed briefs supporting the students in the case.

“Word has already begin to spread that the standard ‘hands-off student media’ policies recognized by college officials in the past may no longer be required,” attorney Richard Goehler wrote in a brief filed with the court by several groups including the Associated Press Managing Editors, the Student Press Law Center and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

With the rejection of the case by the Supreme Court the previous ruling will remain in effect, though only in the states of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

The dean who was sued in the case will also not be liable for any financial damages under the decision.

The ruling also draws a distinction between school newspapers and “forum papers” that are defined as a public forum for free speech and debate, according to Lance Speere, media adviser at Southern Illinois University and president of College Media Advisers, a professional organization for advisers.

Comment on this story in the Features forum >>