A bill introduced in the New Jersey Legislature would expand the state’s existing student press freedom law to private schools and universities, strengthening protections for student journalists and prohibiting administrators from arbitrarily censoring school-sponsored media.
Senate Bill 4757 was introduced Oct. 5 by state Sen. Shirley K. Turner and would amend the state’s 2021 New Voices law to extend protections to students at nonpublic K-12 schools and colleges and universities.
The legislation would also explicitly prohibit administrators from conducting prior review of school-sponsored media at both public and private educational institutions.
Austyn Hackmann, a junior at Delaware Valley Regional High School and a member of the New Voices New Jersey coalition, said denying any student journalist the right to do ethical journalism undermines the First Amendment and teaches them to be silent.
“Like professional journalists, student journalists are the watchdogs on democracy; they’re the ones who write the articles on important policies at Board of Education meetings; they’re the ones who chase the stories that impact their community the most; they’re the ones who call out their school administrators when they do something out of line,” she said.
Hackmann, a 2026 graduate of the Student Press Law Center’s New Voices Student Leaders Institute, said students’ fear of censorship can stop that important reporting.
“If they live in an area where their publication is the only source of community news, how can they be the watchdog on their administration when the fear of being censored exists? How can their community learn about important decisions impacting them? They can’t,” she said. “So, the introduction of this bill can lead to an opportunity for student journalists at private schools to chase the stories truly important to their communities without the fear of being censored. When student journalists’ rights are protected, so is democracy.”
Under the proposed legislation, students at private schools and colleges would obtain the same protections as their counterparts at public institutions. The bill would also require private schools to adopt written policies protecting student freedom of expression, including guidelines on the time, place and manner of student speech.
“Whether a student pays tuition shouldn’t decide whether they can report the truth,” said Jonathan Gaston-Falk, SPLC’s senior staff attorney. “S4757 would give private school journalists, and the advisers who support them, the same protection from censorship and retaliation that New Jersey’s public school students have had since 2021.”
SB 4757 would also extend protections against retaliation to employees of private institutions, allowing them to pursue civil litigation for violations of the law.
The bill was referred to the Senate Higher Education Committee, where it currently awaits further consideration. If passed, New Jersey would become only the third state to protect private school student journalists, joining California and Rhode Island.
New Voices is a student-led, nonpartisan movement working to end censorship of student media by passing state laws that protect students’ right to report freely. The Student Press Law Center powers this movement by convening coalitions, educating lawmakers, sharing model policies and equipping students with the training and confidence they need to stand up for press freedom. Learn more about how you can take action to restore and protect student press freedom in your state.