Contact: Beverly KeneagyCommunications: (904) 626-0017
Arlington, Va. — Reginald Stuart, who holds 40 years of experience in the journalismindustry, has been appointed to the Student Press Law Center’s board ofdirectors.
The Student Press Law Center (SPLC) is a Washington D.C.-area non-profitwhose mission is to advocate for free-press rights for high school and collegejournalists. It also provides legal information and referral assistance at nocharge to students and the educators who work with them.
Stuart is a corporate recruiter for The McClatchy Company, one of thelargest newspaper companies in the nation. He has worked throughout his careerto support open records laws and free press rights.
“It is an honor to beassociated with the Student Press Law Center,” he said. “I workedwith it years ago through the Society of Professional Journalists and realizedhow important a service it is to high school and college journalists, teachers,advisers and education administrators.”
He continued, “I look forward to working with the law center’s boardand staff in the ongoing effort of promoting and protecting First Amendmentfreedoms of the student press and working with student journalists andeducators to promote the highest of standards in the practice of ourcraft.”
SPLC Board Chair Rosalind Stark said that Stuart’s long anddistinguished journalism career will provide important perspectives to theboard.
“I’ve known Reggie for many years through professionalaffiliations and believe that his experience will bring a valuable viewpoint tothe board,” she said. “The board and its many partners are lookingforward to working with him to support such an important cause.”
Stuart has previously worked for the New York Times, where he servedas a national desk correspondent, and at Knight Ridder newspapers as a nationalaffairs correspondent and assistant news editor in the Washington bureau.Stuart, who has authored several books, has received numerous awards for hisjournalism and volunteer activities and is a past national president of theSociety of Professional Journalists. Stuart holds a master’s degree injournalism from Columbia University and resides in Silver Spring, Md., in theWashington, D.C., area.
Stuart will serve a three-year term on the 15-member board, which includesrepresentatives from the journalism, legal, education, and nonprofit managementfields.
The Student Press Law Center, which was founded in 1974, receivesapproximately 2,500 calls a year nationwide from student journalists, teachersand others who have concerns about censorship, free speech or other FirstAmendment rights. In addition to providing educational materials for studentjournalists on a wide variety of legal topics, SPLC operates an AttorneyReferral Network of approximately 150 lawyers across the nation who provide freelegal representation to local students when necessary.
For more information on the SPLC, go to