GEORGIA — The editor in chief of Armstrong Atlantic StateUniversity’s student paper said she is planning to file a lawsuit against thepresident of the university and the Student Government Association for cuttingthe paper’s 2008-09 budget, allegedly based on complaints about the paper’scontent.
Inkwell Editor in Chief Angela Mensing alleges the SGA is censoringthe paper by reducing its student fee allocation by $14,760. The paper’s totalbudget allocation for 2007-08 was $69,500 — which included $54,500 fromstudent fees and $15,000 in projected advertisement revenue. The 2008-09allocation is $65,240 — including $39,740 from student fees and $25,500* inprojected advertisement revenue. The SGA cut would total a loss of $4,260 forthe paper, but Mensing says the real loss is $14,760 because it is the amount ofstudent fee support being trimmed. The Inkwell had requested a totalbudget of $70,829 to cover the costs of a larger editorial staff and computers,Mensing said.
Members of the SGA Finance Committee criticized the paper’s coverage of SGAevents and use of wire stories in a Feb. 16 budget hearing, Mensing said.
“There have been a lot of good stories about what they’ve done,” she said.”I think it’s their way of saying, ‘We’re going to teach you a lesson … bycutting your budget.’ “
Chris Nowicki, an SGA senator and member of the Finance Committee, and theStudent Affairs office deferred comment to the Office of University Relations.Spokesman Francisco Duque told the Student Press Law Center Monday morning theuniversity was not commenting on the Inkwell budget cut.
Mensing said she met with Vicki McNeil, vice president of Student Affairs,on March 18 to discuss the budget cut. During the meeting, McNeil told Mensingthe SGA cut the paper’s budget because of a new policy that would charge the SGAfor publishing advertisements in the Inkwell, not for content-relatedreasons, Mensing said.
Although the paper had charged SGA for some advertisements in the past,there had been no formal policy, Mensing said.
The Inkwell is governed by a Publications Board, which is chaired byMcNeil and includes student publication advisers, student publication leadersand the SGA president. The board’s policy says the editor in chief has soleresponsibility over newspaper content, Mensing said.
The SPLC is helping Mensing find a volunteer attorney to represent her.
CORRECTION, 7/1/2008: An earlier version of this article misstated the Inkwell‘s projected 2008-09 ad revenue. The SPLC regrets the error. Return to story.