As Senior Legal Counsel Mike Hiestand recently surpassed the 20,000th request for help he’s answered via the Student Press Law Center’s Legal Hotline, it’s a fitting moment to reflect on his remarkable career defending press freedom for student journalists.
SPLC’s hotline is the go-to legal resource for the nation’s student journalists and their educators, whether they face censorship, lawsuits or arrest, or just have questions about media law. And since he first joined SPLC as a legal fellow in 1989, Mike has frequently been the attorney answering the phone — or now, the email or the Zoom invite.
Mike educates students on the First Amendment, public records, copyright and more, and counsels them through tough battles with administrators. He has helped ensure student journalists can graduate and teachers can keep their jobs. However, his most significant contribution might be instilling in students the assurance that their voices matter and are worth fighting for.
It’s impossible to quantify the impact those 20,000 conversations have had on the next generation, but we talked with Mike about a few of them.
The power of student journalism
While many calls through the years touched on hot-button issues or stand out for a variety of reasons, Mike said some of the most memorable are the stories where students used their voices to make a difference.
Take what Mike calls the “bathroom story” at Francis Lewis High School in Queens, New York. Administrators censored an article about the school having closed all but two restrooms for about 4,000 students. It included a memorable photo of a line of students wrapped around the hall waiting. With Mike’s help, the student journalists pushed back and gained national attention via the New York Times — and the school opened more restrooms for students.
“In this instance, students were on the frontline, they got the story out and things changed,” Mike said.
Another example of students taking a stand was a censored anti-smoking editorial at Clark Junior High School — which Mike’s brother happened to have attended — in Anchorage, Alaska. Students had complained to no avail about faculty members smoking in an unused room behind the music room, making it difficult for orchestra members to practice their instruments. So the students decided to write an editorial in the student newspaper.
After school administrators censored the editorial, it ran instead in the Anchorage Daily News and the Anchorage Times for 80,000 people to see, as reported in the Winter 1992-93 issue of SPLC’s magazine.
Mike believes stories like these “always make a difference and help students see quickly how much power they have.”
These stories also illustrate Mike’s more typical censorship calls, which often start because school administrators are concerned about the school’s image. Those situations only grew with the Internet.
“Yes, there are stories about sex. But mostly it’s stories critical of the school based on solid reporting,” he said. “The internet changed things. Administrators realized stories that would previously be circulated in school and forgotten about — these stories were lasting, and community members were reacting to them. It changed the landscape and upped the stakes.”
Student media at the center
While student journalists are at the forefront of covering their campuses, they’re also often at the center of the biggest stories of the day.
Mike remembers censorship cases in coverage of school violence after the Columbine High School shooting, the aftermath of Sept. 11th, LGBTQ issues over the past few years and the Israel-Gaza war right now.
“Student media are not in vacuum,” he said. “When things happen in the world, we’re always right in the middle of it.”
Early calls
Often calls to SPLC’s hotline lead to long-time partnerships and friendships, including the very first call Mike answered.
“Believe it or not, the first phone call I ever took at the Student Press Law Center was from a Fern Valentine calling from a small town in Washington,” Mike told the Journalism Education Association last year. “Getting to know and work with ‘First Amendment Fern,’ as she is known, has been such a gift. She lives and breathes and believes in the promise of student journalism and press freedom like few others.”
Mike worked closely with Fern, a legendary high school adviser, over several years to advocate for legislation protecting student journalists in Washington state, where they both live.
“I am honored to be the first call of the 20,000 Mike answered,” Fern said. “Mike has been a special asset in his home state of Washington and helped us get our New Voices law passed.”
Another memorable early call came from students at his alma mater, Marquette University, where censorship forced the removal of an abortion-rights editorial, resulting in the dismissal of the adviser and the suspension of staff members. Mike didn’t hesitate to publicly denounce Marquette’s actions, showcasing his unwavering commitment to free expression.
Restoring student press rights after Hazelwood
Mike joined SPLC just months after the Supreme Court decided Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, which limited free press protections for high school journalists. That decision meant his entire career has been an uphill battle (made much easier when states adopt New Voices legislation), but Mike still tirelessly assists students navigating censorship.
After the Hazelwood decision, there was a wave of student journalists going underground. In the case of Tigard High School in Oregon, for example, the students were suspended for publishing and distributing an unofficial student newspaper called the Low Spots, which was a play on the school-sponsored newspaper’s name the High Spots. The High Spots endorsed the paper in its publication, and it was also censored by school officials. Editors from both papers came together to sue school officials and the school board. The students claimed that the school’s actions violated their free speech rights. Ultimately, the court ruled that the school’s actions against both newspapers violated the student’s First Amendment rights.
Making a lasting difference
Mike’s 20,000 hotline conversations represent thousands of students that he has supported directly, but his impact goes well beyond that. Some of these calls led to court cases with important implications for student journalists everywhere.
Notably, he helped students champion access to campus court records at Miami University of Ohio (State ex rel. The Miami Student v. Miami University), challenging FERPA rulings and securing an injunction against the Department of Education.
That case came about when then-editors Jennifer Mankiewicz and Emily Herbert sued the university for access to the campus’s court records. This case was one of the first instances where students were seeking to obtain the records of students who had been convicted of a sexual offense.
Another milestone was his involvement in a college yearbook censorship case at Kentucky State University (Kincaid v. Gibson), a pivotal moment for college media where SPLC’s relentless advocacy helped stop the potential application of the Hazelwood standard at the college level. Mike called it an “existential threat to college media. The case dominated our lives for three years — we pulled out all the stops for this case.” And it worked; Mike still regularly cites the case more than 20 years later for its recognition that college student media are protected by the First Amendment.
Dream job
As luck would have it, Mike’s journey to SPLC was by happenstance, even though he now calls it his dream job.
He originally wanted to be a journalist, but a media law class at Marquette inspired Mike to pursue a career as a First Amendment attorney. At Cornell Law School’s career center, he found a listing for a fellowship at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and applied. But RCFP had already filled their fellowships that year.
RCFP’s Executive Director Jane Kirtley, though, shared Mike’s resume with SPLC Executive Director Mark Goodman, who offered him a one-year fellowship.
Mark said that was a key decision in SPLC’s history.
“Mike has been the lifeblood of the Center since the first day he started as a legal fellow,” Mark said. “He was back in those days and remains today a caring and knowledgeable resource for students and advisers around the country. People feel better after talking to Mike.”
Mike was supposed to join the Air Force as a military attorney after the SPLC fellowship, but when Mark asked him to stay, he knew that was it.
“Somebody intervened and gave me the one lawyer job in America I’d be happy with,” he said. “When you do the things you love, things just happen.”
Mike and SPLC’s work on behalf of student journalists is supported by donations from foundations, companies and individuals like you. Make a gift today in Mike’s honor.