308 F. Supp. 1329 (D. Mass. 1970)
The editor of the student newspaper at Fitchburg State College, John Antonelli, successfully sued the college president after the president refused to pay to print future editions of The Cycle unless he or someone he appointed approved the paper first. The president was upset that the paper printed material the president labeled “garbage.”
The court struck down the president’s prior review policy as unconstitutional, noting the importance of fostering free and open discussion in the university setting:
“The university setting of college-age students being exposed to a wide range of intellectual experience creates a relatively mature marketplace for the interchange of ideas so that the free speech clause of the First Amendment with its underlying assumption that there is positive social value in an open forum seems particularly appropriate.”
The court made clear that public college administrators cannot use their “power of the purse” to restrict student media:
“We are well beyond the belief that any manner of state regulation is permissible simply because it involves an activity which is a part of the university structure and is financed with funds controlled by the administration. The state is not necessarily the unrestrained master of what it creates and fosters.”
The court concluded by noting the value of student media:
“Because of the potentially great social value of a free student voice in an age of student awareness and unrest, it would be inconsistent with basic assumptions of First Amendment freedoms to permit a campus newspaper to be simply a vehicle for ideas the state or the college administration deems appropriate.”