OREGON – Students at Crescent Valley High School inCorvallis raised almost $850 to publish an uncensored versionof their school’s literary magazine after a principal objectedto the inclusion of a story about sex abuse and a profanity-filledplay in the magazine.
The students raised $550 in direct donations and almost $300 froma fund-raising concert to publish an alternative to the school-sponsoredmagazine, Variations. They printed 305 copies of theirmagazine, called Not Variations, and are selling them at areabookstores as well as in front of their school for $4.
Brian Collins, layout and production editor for the magazine,said the editors decided to publish the magazine independentlybecause they disagreed with the principal’s decision to censor.
“We have the moral and professional responsibility to maintainthe integrity of the publication by fighting censorship,”said Collins. “Variations is intended to present areflection of the intellectual discourse that occurs at CrescentValley. Censoring the publication creates a biased reflectionof that discourse.”