Your College Newspaper

Think that college newspapers are by definition examples of dissident press (or at least more dissident then mainstream media)? Not that naive? Perhaps you just think that college papers are subject to lesser degrees of censorship then the fluff that passed for journalism in the your high school’s paper? At one time, I might have agreed with the latter statement, but laws involving freedom of the press for college students seems to be backsliding. Case in point: Hosty vs. Carter – a court case that resulted when the undergraduate and graduate student staff of a college paper called The Innovator were informed by their Dean that they could not make any more copies of their paper until she approved the issue and its contents. The Dean’s motives: apparently The Innovator had published some articles about a few less then spectacular professors at the University of Illinois, and the aggravations students had felt when dealing with the school’s administration. Angered by what they viewed to be a clear violation of their constitutional rights, The Innovator editors took the Dean to court. Initially, the Dean was held responsible for her actions despite her crafty defense strategy (claiming she didn’t know better), but the ruling did not hold. The case was later re-heard by an 11 judge panel which dismissed the student’s complaints and pardoned the Dean’s actions in a 7-4 vote. The 7 judges who voted in favor of the Dean argued that she could not be sued for breaking a law that was not clearly established. My concerns about this case are best articulated by Mark Goodman of the Student Press Law Center, "The fact that seven appellate court judges said in essence college students can be treated like teenagers is very disturbing (Giuffo)." More importantly it raises the question..... If they are going to treat us like children, shouldn’t we at least get naptime?

For more information, check out the whole story on the Village Voice website:

http://www.villagevoice.com/arts/0531,education3,66452,12.html