The Student Press Law Center’s sixth annual New Voices Student Leadership Institute kicked off this year with 25 students from 15 states. They joined SPLC staff members and special guest speakers to learn about the New Voices movement and how they could be leaders in their state’s efforts toward student press freedom.
Students engaged in a wide range of activities meant to enhance their leadership and organizing skills and develop their role with the New Voices movement. During the free online program, they participated in workshops on public narratives, created an advocacy strategy for their state, and heard from experts on press freedom. Among this year’s guest speakers were Steve Listopad, a journalism instructor and long-time New Voices advocate, and Institute alumni, who returned to motivate the new class of student leaders. Guests emphasized the importance of student voices in this movement and beyond, and guided students on how to use their voice to pass legislation that protects their First Amendment rights.
After spending two weeks learning from SPLC team members, special guest speakers and one another, this new group of New Voices student leaders are ready to put their strategies into action in their states.
Alex Lieberman is one of those students. Lieberman is a junior in Florida where they serve as the Opinion Editor at their school’s publication, The Torch. They share their experiences at the Institute and what comes next in their advocacy work.
I’ve been a part of my south Florida school’s newspaper, The Torch, for two years and plan to continue for the rest of my high school career. That being said, I don’t want to endure the same censorship that we’ve faced in the last two years. Our school administration has cut parts of articles or even whole stories before. Nobody on staff wants to deal with this anymore, and anywhere else, censorship to this degree would be deemed unjust.
At the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) conference this year, I came across a table for the Student Press Law Center. Before, I had been unaware that anything like SPLC existed. I signed up for their emails and was eager to apply for the New Voices Student Leaders Institute in hopes that it would help me create change at the school, local or state level in regards to student press freedom and educate my staff on what they can do as well.
Throughout my time at the institute, I heard from others who have passed New Voices legislation in their state, connected with students from across the country with the same goals, and picked up skills to help me advocate for student press freedom. Perhaps the most interesting, though, was hearing from another student in Florida. She was facing similar challenges to journalistic autonomy despite going to a different type of school. Almost none of the other schools in my district have newspapers like mine or attend the Florida Scholastic Press Association (FSPA) conferences, so connecting with another student in my state was very meaningful.
In Florida, a few years ago, there was a New Voices bill that died in a state Senate committee. It’s going to be challenging to distinguish a new bill from that one, but we began to devise strategies this summer during the institute. In the meantime, students from my newspaper are working to revise our school district’s publications policy to eliminate prior approval, which creates the opportunity for censorship.
No matter how challenging it is to make change, we won’t give up. Students, like everyone, should be entitled to journalistic freedom.
Learn more about how you can take action to restore and protect student press freedom in your state.