The Student Press Law Center asked New Voices advocates to reflect on their accomplishments and lessons learned during the 2024 legislative season. Other posts in this series can be found here.
Simon Mehring is a rising senior at Stoughton High School in Stoughton, Wisconsin. Simon is editor in chief of the student paper, The Norse Star. For the past year and a half, Simon has spent his time leading the Wisconsin campaign for a New Voices law.
Like student journalism, politics can be frustrating. There are often many setbacks, and it can be hard to get simple — no brainer — tasks accomplished. In fact, it can take years just to get a vote on a bill, and when over a thousand bills were introduced in Wisconsin in 2023-2024, there are many priorities competing for a small chance to become law. Nonetheless, the battle moves on.
My time advocating for the passage of the New Voices law in Wisconsin taught my 16 year old self a lot. It taught me how to communicate better, share others’ stories, and inform people about the dire need for student journalist legal protections.
I was spending hours a month at the state capitol meeting with lawmakers, testifying before committees at public hearings, and sitting on the phone answering questions with reporters about why this bill is so crucial. Oftentimes, I felt out of place in these scenarios. It would feel daunting or like I had no place in these meetings, afterall there were hundreds of other bills that were important too, so why was my cause any different.
And although difficult days and setbacks were more common than not, alongside a great group of student journalists, advisers and other advocates, we persisted. We went into meeting after meeting and made our case.
After an entire year of advocacy, we had our first real win: our bill was introduced by a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers. From there, our team mobilized even more. We were lucky to be working with a group of lawmakers who were dedicated to our bill, student journalism and the First Amendment.
We shortly received confirmation our bill (AB 551) would get a public hearing in the State Assembly, and at that hearing we were grateful for a receptive and productive dialogue. Before I knew it, I was watching the state assembly vote on our bill. It was truly gratifying to see what started as a student-powered movement come to fruition and pass the State Assembly 98-0, with no objection.
Unfortunately, our story in the State Senate played out differently. The Wisconsin New Voices Bill didn’t come up for a vote in the State Senate, and subsequently didn’t pass. This doesn’t mean our cause is dead or that our advocacy work was all for nothing. More people now than ever are aware of our cause, more people are invested in our cause, and we are miles ahead of where we were just two years ago.
The fight isn’t over. When the next legislative session begins, we will come back to the table to make our case once again. Our team is dedicated to ensuring all student journalists in Wisconsin are protected against unwarranted censorship by school administrators. The New Voices campaign is stronger than ever, and if we continue to advocate for one another and work together, we will make our cause the law of the land.
Learn more about New Voices here.