OHIO -- Stow-Munroe Falls High School's student newspaper, The Stohion, has resumed publication after being put on hold since late 2009 due to administrative censorship.

Administrators prevented the publication of an obituary and photograph of a student suicide victim in October. The student journalists of The Stohion continued to produce content, but decided to put their publication on hold due to the censorship.

Mike Brickner, communications director for the ACLU of Ohio, said a compromise was reached between the administrators and the student journalists to run the article without the photo of the student in a back issue that was released earlier this month.

Brickner said the most important part of the agreement was the removal of the principal's ability to unilaterally make changes to the newspaper. The agreement also includes an appeals process for potentially sensitive material, which goes through the faculty adviser, the principal and the superintendent.

In an interview with the Akron Beacon Journal, The Stohion's Editor-in-Chief Lyndsey Sager said she is satisfied with the agreement.

''The principal is going to take a look at the paper [before publication],'' Sager said, ''but she's not actually taking a pen to it."

"We're happy with that because we feel that that that'll much better protect their First Amendment rights and ensure that they won't be unnecessarily censored, and give them an actual process to be sure that if something is kept out of the paper, it is done so in a fair and just manner," Brickner said.

Brickner said The Stohion has been printing its back issues to catch up and so far has not had any problems. The paper should be on schedule in March.

NEW YORK, NY -- On Monday, college journalists across the country will have a new opportunity for their work to be seen by people outside their typical readership.

The Huffington Post, an online news source, is planning to launch a college-focused section on its Web site Feb. 22. The site will feature articles from universities' student newspapers.

About 60 college newspapers from across the country signed on to have content available on the new Web site, said Leah Finnegan, the Huffington Post staff member in charge of the college section.

The Huffington Post is an Internet news source that largely aggregates content from other Web sites and blogs. An abridged version of each featured story is available on the Web site with a link to the original news source. The college section will be on the top of the site next to news, entertainment, sports and other "verticals" or Web site tabs.

Finnegan said she will be looking for a diverse mix of interesting, newsworthy and "off-beat" articles.

"So we might have a story on the California protests and a column from the [Cornell Daily Sun] about relationships. We are big about mixing the fun with the serious," she said. Finnegan will look through the student newspapers every morning and choose the articles to highlight on the Huffington Post.

Drew Singer, the editor-in-chief of the Pitt News, University of Pittsburgh's student newspaper, said that his staff is looking forward to participating in the Huffington Post college vertical.

"[Its] readers are different from our readers so it is a great opportunity to get our content out there to more people," Singer said.

The Huffington Post does not include the entire article on its site, so if the reader wants to continue, the link will take him to the original source, Finnegan said.

"It is really effective in bringing people back to the [student paper's] original site," Finnegan said.

The Huffington Post requires that the college newspapers' sites include a widget -- a graphic application on a Web site that links to another site or HTML code -- that links back to the Huffington Post, Finnegan said.

The college section will have three types of content: articles from college newspapers, blogs of people involved in higher education and articles from embedded reporters on college campuses who will write for the Huffington Post directly about breaking news, Finnegan said.

The Huffington Post had 30 million unique visitors in December 2009 and wants some of that traffic to go back to the college newspapers, Finnegan said.

"A big part of our role is to help our writers become professional journalists and this is an opportunity for them to get more exposure," Singer said.

FLORIDA -- A former Florida high school student will now be able to move forward with a lawsuit against her principal after a federal magistrate ruled Feb. 12 that her Facebook post complaining about a teacher is constitutionally protected under the First Amendment.

Katherine Evans, a former student of Pembroke Pines Charter High School in Pembroke Pines, Fla., was suspended by her principal months after she made a Facebook page in 2007 about her Advanced Placement English teacher Sarah Phelps.

On the page, Evans wrote: "Ms. Sarah Phelps is the worst teacher I've ever met. To those students who have had the displeasure of having Ms. Sarah Phelps, or simply knowing her and her insane antics: Here is the place to express your feelings of hatred."

U.S. Magistrate Barry Garber's ruling denied the principal's motion to dismiss the case and his claims of qualified immunity. The case will now move into the discovery phase, according to Matthew Bavaro, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, who is representing the student.

"I am confident that we will ultimately prevail in this case," Bavaro said.

Evans, now a sophomore at the University of Florida, removed the page two days later after three comments criticized her and supported Phelps, according to the court's opinion.

Principal Peter Bayer suspended Evans for three days for disruptive behavior and cyberbullying of a staff member. Bayer also removed her from AP classes, which carry bonus grade-point-average weight, and placed her in lesser-weighted classes.

Evans was not suspended until two months after she had deleted the page, the Miami Herald reported.

"In short, the potential spark of disruption had sputtered out, and all that remained was the opportunity to punish," Garber wrote in his order.

Evans filed a complaint in 2008 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, seeking a declaration that Bayer violated her constitutional rights, along with an order directing the school to purge all mention of the discipline from Evans' record, nominal monetary damages and attorney fees.

"Evans' speech falls under the wide umbrella of protected speech," Garber wrote. "It was an opinion of a student about a teacher, that was published off-campus ... was not lewd, vulgar, threatening, or advocating illegal or dangerous behavior."

SPLC Executive Director Frank LoMonte called this ruling "important to the future of journalism," and cited the importance of the Court's refusal "to say that just using coarse or unpleasant language is unprotected speech."

This ruling means that "schools can't claim authority over off-campus speech just because they contend the speech might reach people at the school," LoMonte said. "We can't have schools turning into the ‘good conduct police.' "

Bavaro believes this case will "set a great precedent that schools cannot overreach and punish speech" done from home and done in a non-threatening manner.

Bavaro said Evans is not available for comment and is only seeking nominal damages.

"We don't want to make this case about money," he said. "We're just looking for a vindication of Katherine's rights."

Calls to Bayer's attorney and an e-mail to Bayer were not returned by press time.

By Stefanie Dazio, SPLC staff writer

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The Virginia Tech administration has rejected recommendations to cut funding or ban student organization advertising in the student newspaper resulting from the paper's refusal to eliminate anonymous comments from its Web site.

The recommendations, made Feb. 8 by the Commission on Student Affairs threatened the funding of the Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech (EMCVT) and the Collegiate Times. The commission was responding to the paper's policy that allows readers to comment anonymously about news articles without a username or e-mail.

The Associate Vice President of University Relations, Larry Hincker, said that the university is not prepared to take away media funding and renegotiate the terms of its contract with the EMCVT. The editorial staff of the Collegiate Times will maintain control of content, Hincker said.

"This decision shows that, as a whole, the university understands the importance of student media – not just the paper, but all of the divisions on campus," said Sara Mitchell, editor-in-chief of the Collegiate Times.

The commission will meet tonight, Feb. 18, to decide whether to continue to pursue a dialog with the student paper about anonymous postings, said Michelle McLeese, chairwoman of the Commission of Student Affairs. Discussions between the commission and the student paper have been held for the past three semesters.

The recommendation to revoke funding was an attempt by the commission to voice its concerns and to get the newspaper's attention, McLeese said.

"The concern is not so much about an anonymous system, as much as it is [about] a lack of accountability," McLeese said.

When there are "breaches in law, such as libel, such as threat [or] harassment," the commission wants a system to identify the commentator as well as potentially preventing future postings from that person, McLeese said.

Kelly Wolff, general manager of the EMCVT, said that the commission may want the paper to eliminate offensive commentary from the Web site, but harmful and controversial speech is still protected under the First Amendment.

"It is not the paper's responsibility to whitewash things for a public relations mission. I think they are asking the paper to be a gatekeeper to protect the university's image from that [offensive commentary] and that is obviously not part of our mission," Wolff said.

ITHACA, NY -- Almost five years after their original First Amendment lawsuit was filed, former members of the Ithaca High School student newspaper are continuing an appeals process in the 2^nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

The appeal is being brought in The Tattler's suit against the Ithaca City School District to reexamine several claims originally dismissed by the judge, said Ray Schlather, of Schlather, Stumbar, Parks & Salk of Ithaca, New York, the attorney representing the students.

In early 2005, the school district imposed what Schlather called "draconian" guidelines on the paper for the first time in its more than 100-year existence.

"The story behind the story was that a new principal had just come on board the preceding fall and the students had been merciless in criticizing this principal about a number of issues," he said.

Former Tattler Editor-in-Chief Rob Ochshorn said Principal Joe Wilson's "law and order" approach to discipline was new to Ithaca High School.

The new guidelines prevented the paper from publishing a cartoon in its 2005 Valentines Day issue, Schlather said. The cartoon, satirizing the way sex education was taught, depicted a woman at a chalkboard, on which stick figures in sexual positions were drawn. Then-adviser Stephanie Vinch removed the cartoon, so the students ran the issue with a hole where it had been.

Vinch later resigned her position, leaving the staff without an adviser and unable to publish as The Tattler under the new restrictions. As it had done in the past, Schlather said, the paper began to publish "underground," calling itself simply "The March Issue."

In "The March Issue," a story about the cartoon censorship was published, Schlather said, alongside the cartoon. When this was printed, the students were told they could not distribute it on campus.

These circumstances were the catalyst for the three claims originally dismissed by the judge, which are now being appealed. The other claims refer to the guidelines imposed on the paper. The judge allowed the students' First Amendment challenge to the scope of the guidelines to proceed ahead to a trial.

The court ruled that even the independent version of the paper was subject to the guidelines imposed by the school, which also meant the paper was not protected under the standard established in the 1969 Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines, but fell instead under the 1988 precedent of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, Schlather said. This means that the paper was subject to the reduced First Amendment protection afforded to a "curricular" publication.

"If The Tattler does not enjoy the protection of Tinker v. Des Moines, then there is no public high school newspaper that enjoys that protection, because The Tattler is about as independent as it comes," Schlather said.

He added that while the court upheld the existence of guidelines for the Tattler, it also said the conditions of those imposed in January 2005 may have been unconstitutional.

The claims regarding the guidelines are being held in abeyance for trial, which means they have been paused, while the appeal for the first three dismissed claims is in progress.

The broader issue, Schlather said, is still whether the Tattler is a Tinker or a Hazelwood paper.

"If ever there is a newspaper that should enjoy whatever protections are available under Tinker v. Des Moines it is The Tattler," he said.

He added that the students have until May to file the briefs for the appeal.

Ithaca City School District Superintendent Judy Pastel did not return a call for comment by press time.

INDIANA -- The editor-in-chief of Lake Central High School's student newspaper, The Scout, said he felt intimidated when he addressed the school board Monday night to ask that school officials be forced to return the papers they confiscated from newsstands last week.

Michael Majchrowicz, The Scout's editor-in-chief spoke at the meeting with about 100 guests in support, and requested the papers be returned no later than Tuesday, Feb. 16. That deadline passed with the papers still under administrative lock and key.

"Basically, the board went into that meeting with their minds already made up. They're not doing anything about the paper, it's not going back out on the stands as of now. It's at a standstill." Majchrowicz said.

An editorial endorsing the resignation of Lake Central High School's football coach, Bill Melby, prompted administrators to remove the remaining issues of The Scout from the stands last week. The editorial said that a change was needed to the football program after its past three season losses, and praised the administration's efforts to make changes.

Majchrowicz wrote the editorial and said Principal Sandie Platt approved the paper after it was submitted to her for prior review.

"The editorial was literally unmarked," Majchrowicz said.

Superintendent Larry Veracco said some students complained to the high school assistant principals about the editorial, which led Assistant Principal Doug McCallister to remove the paper from the stands.

The papers were removed, however Veracco became involved after receiving two phone calls from parents.

One of the phone calls Veracco received was from the mother of The Scout's sports editor, he said. The newspaper staffer--who is also the manager of the football team--had been receiving phone calls to her home in regards to the article. Veracco said during a vote within the editorial staff as to whether or not to run the editorial, the sports editor voted against publication.

"What it turns out to be at this point is that it appears that some students are being pestered, bothered, harassed, whatever term you want to use, about the article," Veracco said.

Majchrowicz said the administration offered an alternative to the issue being returned to the stands.

After being told last week he could run a blank space or make revisions to the editorial before it was reissued he said he felt the only solution would be to have the newspapers returned.

"We are a paper under prior review, everything was approved, and then it was forcibly removed from the stands. My whole objective here is just to get the word out and get the papers back on the stands," Majchrowicz said.

Veracco said he believes the mission of the school's newspaper should not be to create controversy.

"I think the school paper should try to do things that unite students and bring the school together, and promote what the school purpose is." Veracco said.

The administration plans on reviewing its prior review process for the future, Veracco said.

Majchrowicz said The Scout plans to have another editorial in this week's issue about censorship.

MILWAUKEE -- The UWM Post at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, was awarded a settlement last week in its public records lawsuit against the university.

This settlement comes after the student newspaper's former Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Anderson made an open records request for the agendas, minutes and recordings of Union Policy Board meetings at the university. The board, composed of students, faculty members and administrators, allocates office space to student organizations, among its other duties, Anderson said.

Though his request was not entirely denied, the records he received were redacted of information, like student names, Anderson said. The university cited the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) as their reason, even though the meetings had been open to the public.

In the settlement, the university agreed to release the original, unredacted versions of the records and the Post was awarded more than $11,000 to cover its legal fees, according to its Web site.

Anderson and the Post's attorney, Robert Dreps of Godfrey & Kahn S.C. of Madison, Wisc., called this a big victory for student newspapers, since student journalists are those who most frequently run into FERPA issues when requesting information.

"It's hard to say whether the problem lies with the schools and their interpretation of FERPA or with the U.S. Department of Education and its interpretation of FERPA," Dreps said.

This was only one of five or six records issues Anderson brought to attorney Robert Dreps, who represented him, which cited FERPA as grounds for denial, Dreps said. This was the case they thought was most likely to succeed in a lawsuit and garner the university's attention.

"This wasn't the first instance where the university has denied in whole or in part a record request, but it seemed to us that it was the most blatant," Anderson said. "It was the clearest case of over-complying with FERPA."

Since the Department of Education's regulations are "extremely broad," it can be difficult for schools to know how to interpret them, Dreps said.

Vice Chancellor for University Relations Tom Luljak said it was because of this lack of clarity in the law that the school decided to protect student privacy.

"However," Luljak said, "we respect the advice of the state Department of Justice and are satisfied that the case has been settled. In the future we will continue to evaluate each records request on its own merits as we are required to do under the law."

NEW YORK -- The editor-in-chief of Long Lake Central High School's student newspaper addressed the district school board Feb. 11 about the reason for censoring several articles in the January edition and the halted distribution of the paper to the community.

Long Lake Central School District Superintendent, Mary Jo Dickerson, removed an editorial critical of a Harvard University admissions representative who spoke at the school and an article detailing the history of Valentine's Day that included Biblical quotes about love from the January edition of the student paper, the Orange & Black.

When Orange & Black Editor-in-Chief Kaylie Miller questioned the school board about the censorship at the Jan. 14 meeting, the board privately ruled that the newspaper would no longer be distributed as an insert in the school's community newsletter.

At the Feb. 11 meeting Miller addressed the school board about the continued censorship of the articles and the lack of student interest in the paper now that it has been removed from distribution to the community.

When the paper was distributed to the community, "the kids got more excited about it because there were more people reading what we were putting in and they got to show off their work," Miller said.

Many community members came to the school board meeting to support the freedom of the student paper. More than fifty people came to the meeting, compared to a typical attendance of four or five people, said Kimberly Miller, Kaylie's mother and a Long Lake Central School Board member.

"I was really surprised, in a good way," Kaylie Miller said. "I didn't think it meant that much to that many people. They told me to keep fighting for it and what I was doing was right."

Other members of the community also questioned the school board at the meeting about why the articles were censored. One member asked why a quote from the First Amendment was removed from the front page of the January issue, Kimberly Miller said.

According to Kaylie Miller the School Board President, Hallie Bond, agreed to allow the students to publish the censored articles in March's issue. However, the school would continue to print and distribute the paper only within the school.

"I feel as a taxpayer I want to see what is going on at the school, I want to see the kids grow in their life and in their opinions," said Betsy Comeau, a former Long Lake Central Schools teacher who spoke at the January and Febuary school board meetings about the limited distribution of the paper.

The Orange & Black is now only available in the school's library, computer room and a handful of teachers' classrooms that request a copy of it, Miller said. The student population K-12 at Long Lake Central School is 44.

The school board's reasoning for halting the distribution to the community is to allow the students to write what they want; however, the content is still reviewed by Dickerson before print, Miller said.

Dickerson originally told the Orange & Black staff that the editorial was removed because it reflected poorly on the school, the people that organized the event and Harvard University itself, Miller said. Dickerson also told the staff that the Valentine's Day article was removed on advice from the school's attorney.

Dickerson has not returned multiple calls and e-mails requesting comment on the matter.

"Anyone who can't identify that as a problem hasn't studied the American form of government closely enough," Adam Goldstein, attorney advocate at the Student Press Law Center, said about the school's censorship and halted distribution of the paper.

After the meeting on Feb. 11 Miller said she is happy that the paper is allowed to print the censored articles and hopes that the school will not censor similar articles in the future. However, Miller is still discouraged that the paper will not be distributed to the community.

"They feel like they got rid of the problem that they were getting in trouble for [censorship] and if the articles are not in the public eye they won't get in trouble," Miller said. "I think they think the student newsletter is more of a hassle than something that everyone enjoys, I don't think they realized how much the public liked reading it."

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech (EMCVT) is fighting back against the university's threat of financial consequences if the student newspaper does not reconsider allowing anonymous comments on its Web site.

EMCVT General Manager Kelly Wolff said the pressure from the college is a form of blackmail.

"The issue is that the law, and our binding legal contract with the university, says the university will not assert editorial control over the publications," Wolff said.

The letter from the university, dated Feb. 8, details the Commission on Student Affairs' opinion of the anonymous posting feature on the Web site of the student newspaper, the Collegiate Times. It also cites the "discontent among students, faculty, staff, administrators and others." The letter was written by Michelle McLeese, chair of the Commission.

Collegiate Times Editor-in-Chief Sara Mitchell said the comments are "community moderated," but are not edited before being posted. However, if a reader "flags" a comment, the paper's public editor evaluates whether the comment should be "buried by moderation," in which case the comment is not deleted but made so readers must intentionally click a link to read it.

McLeese also wrote that after a conversation between Commission members, faculty, administrators and members of the editorial staff at the Collegiate Times, the paper made no changes, which led the Commission to propose the actions in the letter.

These proposed actions include not renewing a contract under which the EMCVT receives some funding from the university, "until the Commission has resolved its discontent with the CT and its online commenting system."

However, in the EMCVT's response letter, written by Wolff, she says the agreement between the EMCVT and the university stipulates 24 months notice "to rescind or to begin renegotiations" of the contract.

Mitchell said cutting funding to the EMCVT will not hurt the Collegiate Times as much as other media outlets on campus that fall under the EMCVT umbrella.

"The funding that we get from the university does not directly go to the [Collegiate Times] as much as it does to the other divisions within EMCVT, such as the yearbook, radio station, TV station, literary magazine and so those are the ones that would, in essence, probably be hit more immediately, not to say that we wouldn't feel that," Mitchell said.

The more important message being sent by these threats, Mitchell added, is that the university does not view the paper as a useful or legitimate resource.

The Commission also suggested disallowing the Budget Boards at Virginia Tech to provide funds to any student organizations to place advertisements in the Collegiate Times, McLeese wrote in the letter. The Commission will vote on this matter Feb. 18. McLeese did not return calls by press time.

"We defend students' free speech rights no matter what," Wolff said, adding the students on the paper's staff are the only ones whose opinions matter when deciding the paper's policy on anonymous posting, not hers and not the school's.

If the university follows through with its proposed actions, Wolff said the EMCVT would pursue legal action.

"The issue is: Students decide if [comments] are anonymous. Period," she said.

Bettendorf Community School District Superintendent Theron Schutte said the decision to remove the papers was made because of concerns about potential violations concerning student confidentiality and statements that could be deemed as potentially libelous.

“We had strong concerns about the potential for material and substantial disruption being created at the school by the release of that article, too,” Schutte said.

Editor-in-chief Brittani Cobb said she began writing the article as a “classic football wrap-up.” After interviewing a few players, she said they were candid with her about being suspended for drinking, doing drugs and cheating on tests.

“From there it just kind of turned into a totally different story,” Cobb said.

Knowing the controversy that could arise from her story, Cobb said she had students who were quoted read over their quotes and sign off on their accuracy. Cobb followed up with the students she interviewed and suggested they ask their parents if they could be quoted for the article. She said that she continued to follow up with her sources to see if they had any questions or concerns and to confirm whether or not they wanted to be quoted.

“And I think it’s really shown through how these boys, ... they wanted their story out and they wanted people to see, this is how the administration you know, has abused everything,” Cobb said.

Cobb said she has received a lot of support from students and parents in the community.

“Even the students that were mentioned in the article who told me the story that they had been drinking and getting in trouble for it, those are the ones that have been supporting me the most,” Cobb said.

More than 60 students wore t-shirts to school in support of freedom of the press last Friday, according to Cobb, and “students have been re-copying the article and distributing it at school. They put it on Facebook, so it really has turned into a large issue.”

Cobb said Principal Jimmy Casas removed her from her position as editor-in-chief. She said she has been told she can remain a reporter for The Growl if she meets specific requirements.

“I would have had to [apologize] to my adviser, and rules would have been set up for me specifically as to what I could do in the class and write,” Cobb said. “However, no code of conduct or rules would be set up for the rest of the class.”

She said she has the option to appeal her removal, but has not yet come to a decision.

Cobb said there is no prior review or code of conduct set for the journalism class.

“It’s just been really overwhelming to see all of the positive support and people behind me, it’s just been really nice,” Cobb said.

Mike Hiestand, an attorney and legal consultant to the Student Press Law Center, said neither student confidentiality nor disruption seems to be a legitimate legal concern in this situation.

“It sounds to me like the reporter went above and beyond what she needed to do to ensure the student athletes were okay with having their stories told,” Hiestand said.

He also said that the only disruption he could see was that created by the principal that censored the article.

“The thing I think that school officials need to understand here is that this is a student newspaper and not a public relations newsletter of the district. There is a reason that Iowa lawmakers enacted a student free expression law.” Hiestand said.

In addition to the First Amendment, Iowa's student free expression law gives student journalists in public high schools added protection against administrative censorship.

ARLINGTON, VA -- An assault on the College Publisher Web site Wednesday, Feb. 3, left many users temporarily unable to upload content to the online newspaper host site.

This "denial of service attack" on College Publisher affected about 100 of the 600 online student publications the site hosts, said College Media Network Director Rusty Lewis. College Publisher is a host site for college publications' online editions; the site is run by the College Media Network.

One of the papers affected by this was The Daily Reveille at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge. At about 11 p.m. Feb. 4, members of the staff found they could not upload content to the newspaper's Web site.

"We realized we were up a creek without a paddle," Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Persac said.

When staff members contacted College Publisher, they were told it could be a few hours before the problem was solved, so they left for the night, planning to wake up periodically to check for progress. On Friday morning the site was still not working, but by the end of the day they were able to post again.

"We're back to uploading the same amount of new content," Persac said.

Lewis said the denial of service attack is not considered to be a "hack" since there was no breech of security. He equated the situation more with spamming, saying someone intentionally overloaded the server, which caused "a domino effect of issues," some of which the students encountered in their brief inability to upload new content.

"They didn't get into our database," Lewis said. "They didn't delete any content from our system."

Amy Kudwa, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said denial of service can happen "organically" when a site is overloaded with visitors by coincidence, but "an attack is, by definition, mindful."

When groups of computers, called "botnets," are all directed by either an individual or a group to visit a Web site at the same time, Kudwa said, the volume is intended to "impact the service of that site."

The origin of the attack on College Publisher is not yet known, but it was deliberate, Lewis said. Fixing the problem comes first, he said, and figuring out who caused it is "a second priority at this point."

The affected Web content was information posted between Jan. 18 through last Thursday, Feb. 4, Lewis said. College Media Network posted an update today on its Web site regarding the retrieval of information.

"In a best-case scenario," the statement reads, "successful recovery of the database means restoration of articles and similar content from this time span."

Persac said the Reveille lost the content it had posted since the beginning of the semester two weeks ago, adding that College Publisher has been very helpful and optimistic that it will be restored.

College Publisher was in touch almost hourly trying to fix the problem, Persac said. They have been very apologetic, he said, and have assured him that they are looking into ways to prevent this from happening again.

Fixing the problems caused by this attack, Lewis said, will hopefully happen by the end of this week, but if not, then within the next few weeks.

"We have contracted the best database vendor out there to restructure the database," Lewis said.

The Web site has been running normally since Feb. 5, Lewis said, and no problems were reported over the weekend.

PENNSYLVANIA -- Two three-judge panels of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit handed down conflicting opinions today regarding student on-line speech: One protected a student's right to speak freely off-campus, the other permitted a school to punish students for doing so.

In the case Layshock v. Hermitage School District, a three-judge panel ruled in favor of Justin Layshock, but in J.S. v. Blue Mountain School District, another panel favored that school district's right to discipline students for their speech.

"It's difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile the two opinions," said Vic Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania, which represented the students in both cases.

Justin Layshock was a student at Hickory High School in Hermitage, Pa. when he used an off-campus computer to create a fake MySpace page for Principal Eric Trosch, which said Trosch used drugs.

Walczak cited the opinion in Layshock in saying that it would be "unseemly and dangerous precedent to allow school authorities to reach into a child's home and control his or her actions there to the same extent that they can be controlled in school."

"It's a nice victory. It's a nice opinion. But the joy here is greatly tempered by the decision in J.S." Walczak said.

The panel of the J.S. case, which also delivered their opinion today, ruled in favor of the Blue Mountain School District in Pennsylvania. Walczak said this ruling goes against the Layshock ruling.

J.S. was, at the time, a female middle school student who also used an off-campus computer to create a fake MySpace for middle school Principal James McGonigle of Pennsylvania's Blue Mountain School District. This MySpace page made accusations of McGonigle's behavior, including sexually explicit language.

Jonathan Riba, an attorney for the Blue Mountain School District, said the previous judgment in favor of the school district in district court was upheld today in the Third Circuit court.

"It was permissible for the district to take the action they did because the profile was likely to cause a substantial disruption within the school," Riba said.

The Student Press Law Center filed an amicus brief in Layshock in June 2006, and an amicus brief in J.S. in February 2009. SPLC Executive Director Frank LoMonte said the impact of the cases can be looked at side-by-side.

"The combined result of these rulings is, we have four-sixths of a good decision," he said. "It's encouraging that four circuit judges sent a strong message that students are American citizens entitled to the full benefits of citizenship when they are speaking on their own time in their own homes."

Walczak said there was vulgar language in both cases, though it was more vulgar in the J.S. case, but "where the line is nobody knows."

Though Justin Layshock could not be reached by press time, his mother, Cherie Layshock said the family was pleased with the ruling.

LoMonte acknowledged some pitfalls of the J.S. case's ruling.

"The crucial fact of the J.S. case, which the majority completely glosses over, is that the school district had a disciplinary policy that was specifically designed to be constitutional because it did not allow punishment of off-campus speech unconnected with school," LoMonte said. "The school completely misapplied its own policies to reach speech that the policy plainly exempted from punishment, and that should have been the end of this case, full stop."

Walczak said that a decision on whether to appeal in the J.S. case to the full court will be made within 14 days.

MARYLAND -- A bill filed in the Maryland House of Representatives by Delegate Sandy Rosenberg, D-Baltimore City, proposes that college journalists be extended the shield law protections currently afforded to professional journalists.

These protections allow reporters to protect their confidential sources entirely, and protect any notes or unpublished materials unless disclosure is deemed legally necessary. The law in Maryland currently protects journalists "employed" by news organizations. The proposed changes in House Bill 257 move to include any journalist enrolled in college and involved in news "gathering" or "disseminating," not just those employed by a news provider, Rosenberg said.

For Rosenberg, the catalyst for the bill was the situation involving student journalists at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. The school hosts the Medill Innocence Project, run by Professor David Protess, which attempts to use investigative journalism to reexamine criminal cases where there is evidence of a wrongful conviction. Protess received a subpoena last year in connection with his students' investigation of a murder conviction, requesting all notes, electronic communications created for the course, the grades of the students working on the case, a copy of the course syllabus for the Innocence Project class and receipts for expenses incurred during the investigation, among other materials.

Rosenberg said he hopes this law in Maryland will inspire lawmakers in other states to follow suit. Members of other news organizations also believe that college journalists should be afforded these rights.

Whatever records or sources a college journalist obtains should be protected just as they would be for a "commercial" journalist, said Ron Spielberger, executive director of the College Media Advisers.

He added that it should be nationally recognized that college journalists have the same rights as professionals to things like the confidentiality of sources.

Jack Murphy, executive director of the Maryland Delaware DC Press Association said Rosenberg has long been a friend of journalism and that the MDDC Press Association supports the new bill.

Again citing the issues at Northwestern, Murphy said this bill would offer protection to college journalists who may be working on projects that do require a "certain level of confidentiality."

A public hearing regarding House Bill 257 is set for Feb. 10.

NEBRASKA -- A new bill aims to require the Nebraska School Activities Association to comply with state open records and meetings law.

The proposed bill, LB1021, titled the High School Education Act, was introduced on Jan. 20 by Sen. Bill Avery and Sen. Kathy Campbell of Lincoln, and would require the association's meetings to abide by the state's Open Meetings Act.

The NSAA is a private, non-profit organization that oversees the state's high school athletic and fine arts activities. Avery said that every school has to pay annual dues as well as a fee for each activity the NSAA supervises for them.

He said the NSAA should held accountable to the public because the organization receives tax money and that makes them a public body.

"If they spend one nickel of public money [and] if they receive one nickel of public money, that means that they are going to be open to scrutiny by the legislature in the form of compliance of open meetings and open records," Avery said.

Jim Tenopir, executive director of the NSAA, said there is a difference between a public entity and a tax-supported entity.

"I believe we are a private association that conducts a public function... however, there are those who have tried to indicate that because schools may use money that was once collected through property taxes that we are a tax-supported entity and I would contend that that is not the case," Tenopir said.

Subjecting the NSAA to open meetings law is only one part of the plan to restructure the organization.

Nebraska media outlets testified in favor of the bill last week, according to Nebraska Press Association Executive Director Allan Beerman. He said the NPA has always had a good relationship with NSAA.

Adam Goldstein, attorney advocate of the Student Press Law Center, said the bill brings to light a public interest that is not being met.

"Students are being asked to put even more trust into these organizations, because they invest themselves very deeply into their athletics, and yet probably don't have any idea as to how the league actually runs," he said.

The public hearing in front of the Education Committee is set for Feb. 9.

Bell said the appropriate professionals, like doctors, law enforcement officers and school administrators, need the ability to discuss a student's records that may contain "crucial" information, but which are currently confidential because of medical and education privacy laws like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). These laws may prevent many of the necessary professionals, like doctors, from disclosing confidential information about the subject of the threat assessment, Bell said.

Before the hearing, The Virginia Press Association submitted suggestions to clarify the bill and to add certain caveats to sealing the records. It suggested that in the event there is an incident involving a subject of a threat assessment, the records need to be made public, the executive director of the Virginia Press Association, Ginger Stanley, said.

"We want to make sure that if an event occurs that we can look at the records to see what the assessment team knew, and when they knew it and what they did about it, if anything," Stanley said.

Stanley said an "event" is considered to be "an act causing a death or serious bodily harm," or "any sexual assault chargeable as a felony."

The VPA also wants to ensure this bill will not retroactively seal any records that are currently public, Stanley said. The association's main objective, however, is to ensure the bill does not "prevent the release of any record relating to the assessment of any individual in the event such individual commits an act causing one of these serious events," Stanley said.

If it is passed through both the Virginia House of Representatives and Senate, the bill would face a final review by the state's Attorney General to ensure none of the existing privacy laws are being violated, Bell said.

"One of the lessons of Tech was ... all the individual pieces of the puzzle were there, but they were never put into one place where somebody could see the whole picture," Bell said.

Bell added that students coming forward with information about a peer need to have "confidence in the confidentiality of this process."

Though the delegates heard from various groups like the VPA with suggestions of how to modify the bill, it passed through the sub-committee "as written," Bell said.

"We were allowed ample time to present our case...and the committee was not inclined to listen to our suggested amendments. So the work that we will need to do now is on the Senate side," Stanley said.

She added that the VPA will follow this bill to the Senate, continuing to make suggestions.

"We will continue to voice our concerns," she said.

"We were very troubled by the hostility of the climate at Clark College for autonomous and substantive student journalism," LoMonte said. "We thought it was vital that the college hear the voice of the entire journalism community letting the school know that its newspaper was being run in a way that violates the standards of the profession."

While researching the situation for the SPJ, Campbell was invited to campus by the Dean of Developmental Education, English, Communications and Humanities, Ray Korpi, and the paper's adviser, Dee Anne Finken.

Last week, Campbell completed his review, which includes suggestions to help the editor-in-chief gain autonomy, monitor staff appointments and revise some of the relationships between the paper, the adviser and the school.

The SPJ report suggests the creation of a five-member publications board, to which Clark College would delegate authority over The Independent. The suggested board would include two students, one faculty member, one administrator and one professional journalist. The student government would appoint one of the students and the paper's editorial board the second. The English department chair would appoint the faculty member and the president would appoint the administrator and the professional journalist.

The report also suggests: (1) the removal of the credit requirement currently in place to be on the newspaper staff; (2) that the editor-in-chief be able to appoint his or her own staff without consulting the adviser; (3) limiting the editor-in-chief's term to one year and (4) that the college adopt the SPJ's campus media statement.

Korpi said many of the suggestions made by the SPJ are going to be taken under serious consideration, but he suggested media statement is similar to the one already in place at Clark. He had a meeting scheduled for Thursday with Finken and Editor-in-Chief Jordan Frasier to further discuss the report.

Some of the suggestions, Korpi said, may need to be brought to the Clark College Board of Trustees or the Curriculum Committee to solve certain problems before implementation. He and Finken looked at the practices of the University of Washington, where Campbell worked for many years as the publisher and editorial adviser to the student newspaper, and are trying to amend them to apply to a community college.

Frasier, who began as editor-in-chief this semester, said he understands the contents of the report as it pertains to last year, but that those issues were independent to that period and the problems no longer exist.

"I think it was a unique situation that I don't see happening currently," he said.

He said the staff's relationship with Finken is good and they find her to be supportive. He also confirmed that none of the three students against whom disciplinary action was taken are on the staff anymore.

Independent adviser Dee Anne Finken also confirmed that she had received a copy of the report.

"We're looking at it and seeing how we can implement the recommendations that Oren has come up with," Finken said.

Though she does not know who will decide how to respond to suggestions made in the report, Finken said she believes "strongly and fully in a student free press."

The concern that led to the report stemmed from several disputes, the most recent of which ended with campus disciplinary actions being taken against the former editor-in-chief and two other staff members.

In September 2009, disciplinary actions resulted from an incident during newspaper staff selections. Finken would only allow then Editor-in-Chief Audrey McDougal into the interviews. When McDougal was unavailable and tried to send Managing Editor Nick Jensen and Lead Copy Editor Amanda Martin-Tully in her place, they were escorted from the room by campus security.

Campus officials sentenced all three editors to disciplinary probation for one year. They were also required to file written plans by Sept. 28, 2009 with Korpi detailing how they planned to work cooperatively with Finken. McDougal has since left the paper.

"We will not be satisfied until the slate has been wiped completely clean of all record of disciplinary action against all editors, and the college acknowledges that it is never, under any circumstances, permissible to use the disciplinary system to settle a workplace dispute over management of the newsroom," LoMonte said of the disciplinary actions.

PENNSYLVANIA -- Students of Council Rock High School South have united to form South Students Against Literary and Cinematic Censorship in order to combat attempts by some parents to limit media use in the curriculum.

Ryan Carlin founded the group after parents petitioned the school board to ban R-rated films in the classroom.

Carlin accumulated more than 500 student signatures against the ban and presented them to the school board during its monthly meeting.

The policy allows teachers to show district-approved R-rated films and film clips as supplemental material to their curriculum.

After a four and a half hour meeting last Thursday, district school board administrators decided to keep its current policy on R-rated movies.

Superintendent Mark Klein said he feels the students' efforts "were outstanding."

"They carried the evening: they were mature, they were articulate and they spoke very powerfully to why those images helped them understand the greater curricular piece as well as the world in general," Klein said.

Carlin said he "created this [group]... to show that there are level-headed, thinking students out there just waiting for their voices to be heard. I gave them that outlet."

He credited his former Honors English teacher and her lessons on William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice for motivating him to form the group.

"She taught that censorship causes blindness. By young adults not having the opportunity to read this play or see this play, they miss out on the lessons on the evils and stupidity of prejudice. Had it not been for this teacher, I would never have taken a stand," Carlin said.

Of the list of classroom-approved films, only three were removed because they had not been shown for several years.

"They examined the policy, but the policy has been in place for a number of years and I don't expect that we will revisit it," Klein said. "We've strengthened it, obviously, and made sure that people adhere to it [and] made sure that everyone is aware of the ins and outs."

Carlin said that the use of visual arts in education is important to him because it takes "education to a whole new level."

NEVADA -- Churchill County High School's The Flash will go forward with publication this Friday, despite a grievance that has been filed against the Churchill County School District by the teachers' union requesting the prevention of publication and distribution of a student article included in the newspaper.

The grievance was filed after Flash reporter Lauren MacLean wrote a story about parent who discovered evidence that CCHS choir director Kathy Archey allegedly did not submit an unknown number of student audition tapes to the Music Educators Association Honor for the All State Choir program. The parents have since asked the school to investigate the audition process.

"As a journalist I'm supposed to tell the truth. They call journalists 'the watchdog' and it's not necessarily that I wanted to be the watchdog of this situation. I just wanted to inform the students and parents of [CCHS], and the community, what was going on," MacLean said.

Dr. Carolyn Ross, Churchill County superintendent of schools, said the grievance, filed on behalf of Archey, indicated a disagreement regarding whether or not information regarding teachers and their performance should be public.

"The students and the administration at [CCHS] feel that there is freedom of press and freedom of speech and that as long as someone's rights are not being violated...[they] should be able to say what they want to say, even if others disagree with the content of what they're saying," said Ross. "[However] the teacher's union feels that the rights of the individual and their career is being damaged by what's being said about the person."

According to Ross, the Churchill County Education Association has filed a grievance with the school district on behalf of Archey. The grievance also requests that the district "cease and desist from violating the terms of the Master Agreement" between the district and the union under Art. XI-8 Teacher Protection, and that the district take "any and all other remedies necessary to make the Grievant whole."

Art. XI-8 states: "No teacher shall be disciplined, suspended, reduced in rank or compensation, adversely evaluated in a manner which could affect the teacher's employment or lead to dismissal or non-renewal, transferred, dismissed, not-renewed, terminate or otherwise deprived of any professional advantage without just cause."

A representative from the Churchill County Education Association could not be reached by press time.

"Because of the scrutiny, there has been a grievance filed at my level, but I think it's going to be turned around and filed at the principal's level. There are great, even additional energies, time, and other resources being spent on this, and I'm just real regretful," Ross said.

The outcome she wants from all of this is to "move forward" and for there not to be "consequences when information is shared."

Ross said MacLean's article seems appropriate.

"Our principal believes it's appropriate, our legal adviser, our attorney has reviewed it and [it] seems appropriate. While it's not flattering, we don't see that it's damaging."

CCHS Principal Kevin Lords, who read the article during the school's prior review process, said he approved publication of the story because he felt there was nothing that needed to be censored.

"My feeling is that the reporter has used facts in her report and has not taken... a side, even though it's one-sided because the other side has refused to comment," Lords said.

MacLean said she hopes other high school journalists can learn from her situation.

CALIFORNIA -- The California State Senate unanimously passed a bill Monday that extends the rights of student free expression to charter school students, confirmed Adam Keigwin, chief of staff for Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo.

The unanimous vote "speaks volumes for this issue," Keigwin said.

The bill will now go to the State Assembly where Keigwin said it will likely reach a vote by March in either the education committee of the judiciary committee.

Keigwin said a similar outcome is anticipated in the assembly, since the original student speech bill passed and this is simply a "restating" of that bill "clearing up any ambiguity."

The bill, introduced by Yee, amends California Education Code Section 48907 -- the state's student free expression code -- to read "pupils of the public schools, including charter schools, shall have the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press ..."

This will also amend California Education Code Section 48950, also known as the "Leonard Law," which protects any student action on a public or private campus that would be protected off campus by a student's first amendment rights.

Given the passage of the original bill, Keigwin says it would be strange for this update not to pass, citing that it would be odd if "it's good enough for public school students. It's good enough for private school students. But somehow charter school students don't deserve the same rights."

Assuming that the bill passes through the assembly, Keigwin said Sen. Yee hopes it will make it to the governor's desk by this summer.

NEBRASKA -- Legislation proposing a statewide student freedom of expression act in Nebraska is up for public hearing next Tuesday.

The bill, LB 898, titled the Student Expression Act, was introduced by Sen. Ken Haar of Malcolm, Nebraska and would prevent schools from restricting speech unless it is defamatory, obscene, or otherwise unprotected by the First Amendment.

"Our bill would require each school district to have a written policy that explicitly says what they can [do] and will not be allowed to do," said Haar.

The bill would also provide protection for teachers, advisers and administrators against retaliation in their pursuit of academic freedom for students. The bill also clarifies that schools and school personnel are not liable for what students say or write.

Dr. John Bender, executive director of Nebraska High School Press Association said that a bill of this nature is necessary to protect teachers and advisers. "These are often people who are doing the best job...they're trying to teach students to do good, solid, responsible journalism. That's too often what principals and superintendents don't want they want public relations," he said.

"There's a lot of schools, particularly in the Omaha and Lincoln area, that this bill will have huge ramifications for because... every issue and every yearbook spread is scrutinized by administration," said Janelle Schultz, president of the Nebraska High School Press Association.

There have been 25 reported incidents of suppressing student expression in Nebraska since 1998, according to a compilation of incidents from Sen. Haar's office.

Last October, at Bellevue East High School, a district superintendent changed not only his answers to student newspaper staff questions, but also changed their questions to him, before allowing publication of the article in the student newspaper. In the same month, a co-editor of the newspaper wrote an editorial encouraging students to attend local school board meetings. The high school principal said the article was “inappropriate” and was pulled from the newspaper. The principal told the students they should be attending student council meetings rather than school board meetings.

In August 2008, a total of 23 students were suspended over a 3-day period for wearing memorial T-shirts dedicated to a friend who had been murdered by gunfire.

According to the bill, The intent of the Student Expression Act is to "clarify the expression of rights of Nebraska public school students, to reduce incidents where students' lawful expression rights are suppressed, to instill in students the value of democracy, and to prepare students for informed and active civic participation."

"We feel that if schools have reasonable policies in place it may actually prevent some lawsuits," said Haar.

There are currently eight states with student free expression laws and two others with state regulations in place.

“We’re pretty confident,” said Adam Keigwin, chief of staff to Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo).

The bill, SB 438, which if enacted will prevent attempted censorship by charter school administrators, passed the Senate’s judiciary committee in a unanimous 5-0 vote last Wednesday.

The bill, introduced by Yee, amends California Education Code Section 48907 -- the state's student free expression code -- to read "pupils of the public schools, including charter schools, shall have the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press ..."

The legislation is a direct result of an incident at Orange County High School of the Arts, according to Keigwin, where administrators relied on ambiguities in the existing free-speech law to defend a weeklong delay in printing the student newspaper, the Evolution.

The Evolution, advised by Konnie Krislock, was postponed because of administrative reaction to two articles -- one about the school's theme of the year and one about the school's contract with a food vendor that openly espoused religious views.

“We don’t believe that any form of censorship occurred,” said Dr. Ralph Opacic, the school’s president and director. “We believe that we were acting appropriately in exercising our right to prior review.”

“In light of that differing opinion, we want to make it crystal clear that charter schools need to adhere” to this legislation, Keigwin said.

Both public and private schools must follow the free expression law, so why wouldn’t taxpayer funded charter schools as well, he added.

“This bill is, in our opinion, more of a clarifying of existing law,” he said. “They obviously think otherwise, but at the end of the day, it will be the same result.”

“We abide by state and federal law and if [SB] 438 should include charter schools in being held to [California Education Code] 48907, we’d certainly follow the letter of the law,” Opacic said.

Although private schools are not mentioned in California Education Code Section 48907, both public and private schools are subject to California Education Code Section 48950, also known as the “Leonard Law.” That measure states, “nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede, or otherwise limit or modify, the provisions of Section 48907,” according to Jim Ewert, legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association.

The “Leonard Law” is the only state law that prohibits private high schools from making or enforcing any rule that would subject a student to disciplinary action for engaging in expression (on or off campus) that would be protected by the First Amendment or the California Constitution's free expression provision if it occurred off campus.

Charter school officials might try to cite California Education Code Section 47610, known as the charter school mega-waiver, to block this legislation, but Keigwin said, “in our opinion, that applies to curriculum. We do not think student speech is a curriculum issue.”

“It just wouldn’t make sense that our laws protect private schools students, protect public school students, but why would charter school students not deserve that same protection?” he said. “I would ask them why they don’t think their students deserve that.”

The school has recently updated its prior review guidelines in a publication policy given to Krislock the day before winter break.

In it are three items that "directly oppose" the student free expression bill, according to Krislock. They include banning advertisements inappropriate for minors and a school environment, providing a copy of the publication to administrators at least three days prior to printing, and appointing the school as publisher of all school publications.

If the bill passes, parts of this policy could be considered illegal.

“It’s obvious that the students are the publishers of student newspapers, that they get to dictate content, that includes advertising,” Keigwin said.

This legislation “releases any sort of liability on the administration,” should the newspaper print anything libelous, he said.

Opacic said the school would review its publication policy, should the bill come to pass, to make sure it is compliant with the new law.

“The administration here supports and respects any legislation that protects students’ First Amendment rights,” Opacic added.

“Students don’t shed their first amendment rights at the door here in California,” Keigwin said.

Andrew Worrall was summoned to appear January 12, 2010, in Columbia Municipal Court on charges of being a disorderly person at a fire on September 10, 2009, in Columbia, Missouri.

Judge Robert D. Aulgur entered a suspended sentence at the January 12 hearing according to Worrall’s attorney, Russell Still.

“In order to have a conviction you have to have a final order of the court, of the judge, and the judge is saying he’s not doing that, he’s not imposing any sentence,” said Still.

Worrall was placed on two years of temporary probation.

“The case is just held there to see what happens and if he [Worrall] doesn’t have any violations, which I don’t think he will, then the case is dismissed,” said Still, who represented Worrall pro-bono as a Student Press Law Center referral attorney.

During the hearing, Columbia Fire Captain Larry Curtis testified that the assistant fire chief told Worrall to move back away from the scene to where the rest of the public was standing. Worrall moved back a few feet and the assistant fire chief asked him to move further back and Worrall said he did not have to, said Still.

Worrall testified that his response to the assistant fire chief was that he had the right to be there.

“If journalists have the perception that their access is being unnecessarily restricted by law enforcement on the scene, the right response is to object once, then comply and have the conversation later with the officer’s superiors,” said Adam Goldstein, attorney advocate of the Student Press Law Center.

Worrall is a photojournalism student at the University of Missouri, senior staff photographer of the university’s newspaper, The Maneater, and a trained volunteer firefighter.

The resignations follow months of conflict between the staff and school administrators over the newspaper's content.

Statesman staff members spoke out against recurring censorship issues at the school's Board of Education meeting in December 2009. The meeting addressed the removal of an article in the Dec. 18 issue of the paper, which discussed the use of prescription drugs among students. In November, the staff was required to produce a paper with only administration-approved content after the administration objected to the use of anonymous sources in a story.

Former managing editor, senior Evan Ribot, has worked for the Statesman since his freshman year. Ribot told the SPLC in December that talking did not seem to be getting the staff anywhere.

"They just change their statements so often and change what they're doing so often that a lot of times it's impossible to make progress," he said.

District spokesman Jim Conrey said the administration had planned to work with the students to implement changes to the class. "They chose to withdraw before giving it a chance to work out," he said.

According to Gabriel Fuentes, an attorney with Jenner & Block LLP, who is working with the students as a Student Press Law Center volunteer attorney, there has been an ongoing disagreement over the limits of the district's authority under the standards established by the Supreme Court in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier.

"The students, faced with the choice of continuing to labor under that disagreement, have decided honorably to resign," he said. "[It] was a missed opportunity for the school district to demonstrate that it really was prepared to comply with First Amendment law and the Hazelwood case."

Former Statesman Editor-in-Chief Pamela Selman told the Chicago Tribune she would "rather practice no journalism than journalism that doesn't follow with my ethics and what I believe in."

In regards to the current status of the Statesman, Conrey said that although the class has been downsized, he does not foresee any problems with publishing.

"We plan to carry on the best we can," he said. The next issue had been set for a Jan. 29 publication.

INDIANA -- The student newspaper at Notre Dame University and Saint Mary's College, The Observer, has accepted the resignation of its former assistant managing editor, Kara King, its Web site confirms.

The resignation was accepted after King took responsibility for the publication of a cartoon that used language against members of the gay community and a joke about violence against them, according to The Observer's Web site.

The cartoon features one character, a saw holding a drink, saying to another character, a male holding two drinks, "What is the easiest way to turn a fruit into a vegetable?" The male character responds "No idea," to which the saw responds, "A baseball bat."

A letter from King to "The Observer community" is on the paper's Web site, in which she writes she is "solely responsible for providing a forum for this message of hate," and apologizes to those who were offended by the cartoon.

"I wish everyone on staff the best of luck in regaining the readers' trust that I have violated," King wrote.

In a letter to the editor, the creators of the cartoon, Colin Hofman, Lauren Rosemeyer and Jay Wade, apologized for creating what they called "offensive, distasteful and completely humorless joke."
The letter goes on to explain their true intention was to bring light to the intolerance of homosexuality on Notre Dame's campus, using the saw character to "emphasize a mindset that we simply find ridiculous." They acknowledge, however, that this cartoon went too far.

Notre Dame President, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., is quoted in a statement that appears on the university's Web site.

"The University denounces the implication that violence or expressions of hate toward any person or group of people is acceptable or a matter that should be taken lightly," Jenkins wrote.

When the cartoon was published, several people contacted the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), said one of their senior media strategists, Adam Bass.
Upon hearing of the issue, he spoke with The Observer's Editor-In-Chief Jenn Metz, Bass said.

"We felt like the paper owed the students and the community an apology," Bass said.
GLAAD's main request of The Observer was that they review the policies in place to prevent these types of problems.

"It's way too often in our country that young people are targeted based solely on somebody not liking that they are gay or transgender. They are targeted for violence so it's not a laughing matter," Bass said. "We took it seriously and we're glad that The Observer is taking it seriously."

A staff editorial from The Observer includes an apology for this incident, a wish to move forward and an admission that the fact that the cartoon was published "reveals holes in our editing practices, which are currently being addressed."

Neither Editor-In-Chief Jenn Metz nor Managing Editor Bill Brink of The Observer could be reached for comment by press time.

The Student Press Law Center ("SPLC"), the nation's only nonprofit legal-assistance organization serving student journalists, is asking the Board of Trustees of Los Angeles City College in California to look into a pattern of threats to the editorial freedom of the award-winning student newspaper, the Collegian.

The letter of concern cites several instances in which the Collegian and its staff faced intimidation or retaliation for the content of their journalistic work, including a proposed transfer under which authority for the newspaper would be shifted to a new department, in an apparent attempt to exert greater administrative control over the newspaper's editorial content.

The SPLC was joined in its January 15 letter by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Inc., a nonprofit advocacy group supporting freedom of speech on college campuses.

State Senator Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo, California's leading champion of student First Amendment rights, has called for an inquiry into possible violations of student journalists' rights, but President Jamillah Moore has insisted that no violations occurred.

"LACC has damaged its own credibility with its stunning inability to find a First Amendment violation in a climate where such violations seem to happen as a matter of course. Finding a First Amendment violation at LACC is like looking for a needle in a needle stack," says the January 15 letter, directed to LACC Board of Trustees President Mona Field.

"It is beyond dispute that at a public college -- especially a college in California, which has the strongest student free-speech laws in America -- the student editors of a campus publication have the freedom to publish anything that is lawful, and to do so free from fear of reprisal," said Frank D. LoMonte, an attorney and executive director of the Student Press Law Center. "Unfortunately, L.A. City College has cultivated a climate in which student journalists fear that tough, honest journalism will be met with retaliation against them and their newspaper."

"We hope that the Board of Trustees will reinforce to the administration of LACC that an award-winning newspaper is something to be celebrated, and that the newspaper's editorial freedom is a vital part of its educational value," LoMonte said, noting that Collegian staff writer Mars Melincoff won third-place nationally in the 2009 Associated Collegiate Press competition for "sports story of the year" -- the only two-year college student recognized in that category -- for her investigation of academic irregularities in LACC's basketball program.

The letter highlights several examples of apparent violations of free-press rights on campus, including:

President Moore's demand that a student journalist covering an open, public meeting sign a "waiver" as a condition of being allowed to report on the events of the meeting.
A letter of reprimand issued to an LACC employee rebuking him for providing the Collegian with a copy of a public record that documented a (later-rescinded) 40 percent budget cut to the newspaper. (The letter of reprimand was withdrawn when it was shown that the employee was not the source of the document, but LACC has never acknowledged that it is improper to discipline employees for granting lawful requests for public records.)

Students in two-year public colleges in California are protected not only by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution but by California Education Code Section 76120, which provides that two-year colleges may not prohibit or punish speech unless it is libelous, obscene, or creates a "clear and present danger" of inciting its audience to break the law or otherwise disrupt the operations of the campus.

Since 1974, the Student Press Law Center has been devoted to educating high school and college journalists about the rights and responsibilities embodied in the First Amendment, and supporting the student news media in covering important issues free from censorship. The Center provides free information and educational materials for student journalists and their teachers on a wide variety of legal topics.

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CALIFORNIA -- The high school that inspired a new Senate bill ensuring student free press rights for charter schools is now facing a stricter publication policy, leaving student journalists in a "legal limbo," the paper's adviser said.

SB 438, which if enacted will prevent attempted censorship by charter school administrators, passed the Senate's judiciary committee in a unanimous 5-0 vote today, according to the Orange County Register.

The bill, introduced by State Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), amends California Education Code Section 48907 -- the state's student free expression code -- to read "pupils of the public schools, including charter schools, shall have the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press ..."

The legislation serves to tighten ambiguities that administrators at Orange County High School of the Arts relied upon to defend a weeklong delay to print the student newspaper, the Evolution, according to the Orange County Register.

The Evolution, advised by Konnie Krislock, was postponed because of administrative reaction to two articles -- one about the school's theme of the year and one that was about the school's contract with a Christian food vendor.

The school's president and executive director, Dr. Ralph Opacic, told the Orange County Register this bill would not affect the Evolution, as it outlaws only prior restraint, not prior review. Opacic did not return calls by press time.

Opacic said the administrators did nothing that the amended law would make illegal.

"We did not restrain or censor anything," he told the Orange County Register. "Education Code Section 48907 does not preclude prior review, which is what we did in the incident."

But Yee's Chief of Staff, Adam Keigwin, disagreed.

"They looked at it and didn't like it and stopped publication," he said in the Orange County Register. "It was the act of stopping the publication, not the review, that violated the law. Prior restraint can be 20 minutes or 10 years. If there's a delay in publication because you need to review it, that's delaying the speech."

This delay worries Krislock, who said she was given an updated version of the school's publication policy the day before winter break.

In it are three items that "directly oppose" the student free expression bill, according to Krislock. They include banning advertisements inappropriate for minors and a school environment, providing a copy of the publication to administrators at least three days prior to printing, and appointing the school as publisher of all school publications.

Krislock now finds herself in a "legal limbo right now," between the current Section 48907 and "the possible penalty of my administrators saying I was insubordinate."

Krislock and her students are currently "acting like [the new publication policy] doesn't exist" and hope the Senate bill passes before the end of the month, when the Evolution's next issue is scheduled to print.

Attorney Jon Schoenhorn told a three-judge federal appeals panel that the principal of Connecticut's Lewis B. Mills High School overstepped the First Amendment in punishing Avery Doninger, then a high school junior, for a coarse remark about administrators on a LiveJournal.com blog.

Although the blog referred collectively to school administrators as "douchebags," Schoenhorn said that term appears regularly on prime-time television and even on the front page of the New York Times, and is simply a youthful slang for "jerk" rather than a vulgarity.

"When students use terms of this sort, they are not obscene or even vulgar," Schoenhorn told judges of the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A U.S. district judge in 2009 found no First Amendment violation in Principal Karissa Niehoff's decision to punish Doninger's commentary, which concerned a dispute over scheduling a battle-of-the-bands concert that Doninger was helping organize. Niehoff penalized Doninger by disqualifying her from running for secretary of the senior class.

The judge applied the Supreme Court's Bethel School District v. Fraser standard, which makes "lewd" speech punishable if it occurs on campus at a school-organized event. Doninger's blog was created at her own expense on a home computer, and there is no evidence that the blog's handful of readers ever viewed it at school.

First Amendment advocates fear that, if not overturned, the lower court's ruling will blur the distinction between off-campus and on-campus speech. The Student Press Law Center filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Doninger through volunteer counsel with the Washington, D.C., office of Hunton & Williams LLP, arguing that the ruling endangers the freedom of online student journalists to comment on school issues.

This is the case's second trip to the Second Circuit. At a preliminary stage of the case, applying different legal standards, the judges agreed that the blog punishment was constitutionally permissible. However, the case is now before a new three-judge panel, with only one holdover, Judge Debra Ann Livingston.

The judges pressed the school district's attorney, Thomas R. Gerarde, over whether the blog was factually false in indicating that Niehoff had canceled the band concert. The district judge relied heavily on his view that the blog was false -- the concert was canceled, but with discussions about resurrecting it -- in finding that the speech fell outside of First Amendment protection.

Gerarde conceded that the evidence was in dispute over whether the blog was actually false, but said there was no disputing that the statement was misleading.

The judges spent the bulk of the oral argument on a secondary issue, involving the school's ban on "Team Avery" T-shirts that supporters of Doninger wanted to wear to an election assembly to protest Doninger's disqualification.

The court focused on whether the Supreme Court's landmark student-speech case, Tinker v. Des Moines Community School District -- affirming students' First Amendment rights to wear anti-war armbands in school -- was similar enough to the Doninger case to make it clear that banning the "Team Avery" T-shirts violated the First Amendment. Tinker allows schools to restrict student expression only if it threatens to "substantially" disrupt school functions.

Doninger won on the T-shirt issue at the district court. If the Second Circuit affirms that ruling, then she will be entitled to a trial as to whether the T-shirt ban violated her First Amendment rights.

Gerarde described the prohibition as a spur-of-the-moment judgment that Niehoff was forced to make under pressure: "There are 600 kids filing into the auditorium, and all of a sudden around the corner come the T-shirts, ‘Team Avery,' and she's got to make a call. We don't know, are there 150 of these (shirts), are these the only two?"

Presiding Judge Jose A. Cabranes voiced skepticism that banning the T-shirts had any connection with keeping order at the assembly or protecting the integrity of the election, the two justifications offered by the school.

When Gerarde argued that "what the administration feared is that there would be a sea of ‘Vote for Avery' or ‘Team Avery' T-shirts," Cabranes shot back: "So what?"

"I am having trouble seeing how the wearing of T-shirts is going to cause disruption, much less that it will lead to any particular results in the casting of ballots," Cabranes said.

Gerarde said that part of the school's concern was to prevent students from disrupting the election by casting ballots for Doninger; in fact, a majority of students did write in her name, but their votes were disqualified. But under questioning from the judges, he acknowledged that the school would not take the position that it could punish the casting of a protest vote for Doninger as a disruption.

Gerarde said that the case was unlike Tinker because of the well-publicized blog controversy that preceded the election assembly, making it reasonable for Niehoff to anticipate student unrest.

But Schoenhorn responded that the Des Moines school administrators in the Tinker case also had reason to anticipate unrest -- and the armbands did actually provoke some disputes -- yet the speech was constitutionally protected.

As is customary, the appeals court took the case under advisement and did not indicate when it would rule. Rulings typically take at least six months.

The law firm of Baker & Hostetler LLP filed the brief Monday in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago in the case of The People of the State of Illinois v. Anthony McKinney. SPLC attorneys prepared the brief on behalf of a coalition of leading media organizations that represent the interests of college journalists, including the Society of Professional Journalists, College Media Advisers, Inc., and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

The brief urges the Court to quash a State Attorney's subpoena for the student journalists' confidential work product, gathered in their investigation into the 1978 murder conviction of Anthony McKinney. The students' work, published on the Medill Innocence Project website, raised doubts about the legitimacy of McKinney's conviction and helped win a new court hearing for McKinney, who was convicted in the shooting death of a security guard.

Student Press Law Center Executive Director Frank D. LoMonte, an attorney, said the students are "reporters" as defined by the state shield law and are entitled to its protections. The shield law is designed to safeguard the integrity of newsgathering by allowing reporters to keep their unpublished newsgathering materials confidential, unless a court finds an overriding need for disclosure of information that is available through no other route.

"These student journalists were actively engaged in collecting documents and interviewing witnesses with the intention of informing the public, and that is all that the Illinois shield law requires," LoMonte said. "Student journalists are uniquely vulnerable to pressure from government authorities, and they are perhaps the journalists most in need of shield-law protection. The work of Professor David Protess and his students at the Innocence Project is incredibly valuable to society, and it would not be possible if his reporters were unable to promise their sources confidentiality."
The SPLC's brief states: "No matter how they are compensated and for what medium they write, when students perform reporting functions, they are entitled to protection against the compelled production of their newsgathering materials and fishing expeditions into their motives."

"The student journalists' work sheds light on an essential government function, fulfilling a need not fully met by any other media outlet. The students' ability to gain access to information through independent interviews of witnesses, and the protection of their source materials that are produced as a result of these interviews, are necessary to ensure they can inform the citizens of this state about the efficiency or failings of the criminal justice system. In short, this vital journalistic work is exactly the type of work for which the reporters' privilege was designed," the brief states.

The SPLC concludes: "Without the protections of the Act, stories that are important to the citizens of Illinois may never get investigated or published. Informants' tips will dry up if there is no assurance of anonymity. The work of student journalists informs the community as a whole, and the failure to extend the Act's protections to students would cause harm to the public interest."

Attorney Erin Bolan Hines of Baker & Hostetler filed the brief, which was prepared with the assistance of SPLC volunteer attorney Robert Bertsche of Boston, a veteran First Amendment lawyer.

Since 1974, the Student Press Law Center has been devoted to educating high school and college journalists about the rights and responsibilities embodied in the First Amendment, and supporting the student news media in covering important issues free from censorship. The Center provides free information and educational materials for student journalists and their teachers on a wide variety of legal topics.

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