OREGON — A student newspaper editor who claimed university officials violated his constitutional rights lost his legal battle on Feb. 27 when a federal district court judge threw out his lawsuit.
\nDimitris Desyllas, editor of the alternative paper The Rearguard, had alleged that Portland State University officials violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights in February 2001 when they locked him out of the newspaper office and questioned him about a box of classified university files that was in the office.
\nThe box contained confidential student records and had been mistakenly left out in a campus building, then delivered to The Rearguard office by an unknown party.
\nIn granting summary judgment for the defense, U.S. District Judge Donald Ashmanskas ruled that the university officials had “reasonable suspicions that supported their questioning of [Desyllas] for investigative purposes,” according to court documents. Desyllas has appealed the decision.n
\nCase: Desyllas v. Bernstine, Civ. No. 01-356-AS (D.Ore. Feb. 27, 2002)