City college paper pulled from stands
Administration says article violated copyright regulations
By Jeffrey Christian
The Collegian
The headline was printed in bold print and large font on the front page and indicated that two Fresno City College students were charged with rape. However, Fresno City College students never got a chance to read the issue of The Rampage, the campus newspaper. Due to inaccuracies and fear of libel, FCC President Ned Doffoney prevented the issue from hitting campus newsstands.
Censorship of student newspapers has been a steady topic of discussion throughout college campuses, but the issue has garnered increased discussion locally after Doffoney prevented the first issue of the campus paper from being distributed last Wednesday due to inaccuracies in the headline and story.
In fact, there was never any record of the students discussed in the story actually being on the football team and the two were charged with one count of lewd and lascivious conduct, not rape. Also, the author of the story, student Joseph Rios, admitted he didn’t interview the individuals quoted in the story and instead took quotes from The Fresno Bee.
“The concern was regarding the copyright violation. The student didn’t interview President Doffoney or Police Chief Jerry Dyer. The headline was incorrect and the first paragraph wasn’t correct either,” Fresno City College Director of Marketing and Communications Chris Monahan Bremer said.
According to the Fresno City College administrative requirements posted on the school’s Web site, students who are part of an organization don’t escape individual responsibility regarding laws such as libel, copyright violation and obscenity.
The requirements also state that publications or articles prepared by students who are enrolled in the college may be distributed on campus only when in accordance with the established regulations.
The administrative requirements give the administration the ability to censor The Rampage in instances where certain laws or guidelines have been broken. The Rampage issued an apology to its readers, the college and the football team in its next issue and changes could be in the newspaper’s future.
“We as an institution will address any changes with the faculty advisor. This administration doesn’t believe in censorship but there has to be a system of checks and balances,” Bremer said.
However, college administrations throughout the state may find it more difficult to prevent future incidents due to the passage of a new state censorship bill.
Last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 2581. The bill, which will go into effect in January of next year, makes California the first state to prohibit the censorship of the college student press.
AB 2581, which was introduced by Speaker Pro Tem Leland Yee (D- San Francisco/Daly City), prohibits censorship of student newspapers at any college in the UC, CSU or community college systems and also bans college officials from disciplining any student who engages in press or speech activities.
AB 2581 was introduced in response to a United States Seventh Circuit Court decision in Hosty v. Carter which left the issue of censorship on college campuses uncertain. In that case, the dean of student affairs at Governor’s State University in Illinois required the campus paper to submit its stories prior to publication in an attempt to respond to a series of negative articles about the administration that had appeared in the campus newspaper.
While the lower court’s decision upheld that the student’s First Amendment rights were violated, the Seventh Circuit Court reversed the decision. The newly passed AB 2581 now strengthens the freedom of the press that many California college newspapers feared had dissipated by the Seventh Circuit Court’s decision.
The new censorship bill received support from the California State Student Association, an organization that works for campus and statewide issues that affect students. The organization represents more than 400,000 students from 23 different California campuses.
“The main reason the Bill passed is because it is sound policy and it doesn’t have a price tag,” Fresno State Associated Students President Juan Pablo Moncayo said.
According to Moncayo, Fresno State Associated Students supports about 100 legislative bills every year that they feel are of significant importance to Fresno State students.
“We have representatives that go to monthly meetings and lobby in Sacramento for bills that we feel are important,” Moncayo said.
According to a report from Youth Media & Market Networks and College Publisher, campus newspapers might be one of the highest read publications on college campuses. The study found that 44 percent of students read their college papers at least twice per week while only 28 percent of undergraduate students frequently read their local non-campus newspapers in print.
Online news sites and cable television have significantly decreased the number of people, especially students, who read the newspaper. The new censorship protection for college newspapers created by AB 2581 will, at the least, ensure that those students who are reading the campus newspaper, aren’t limited to reading stories approved by the administration.
Comment on this story in the News forum >>
|
