Experts from the journalism and legal fields are urging the Florida Bar to retreat from proposed rules giving judges wide authority to restrict spectators' use of laptops and recording devices in state courts.A set of proposed rules released by Florida's attorney-regulating body Jan.
Author: Frank LoMonte
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: Campus discipline that’s something to write home about
College disciplinary records are where the rubber meets the road for student privacy law. They are the confidential records that journalists most want -- and that colleges most want to withhold.While journalists have very little need for grades, attendance sheets and other academic records, they often are legitimately interested in how campus judicial bodies do (or don't) mete out punishment for disciplinary infractions.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: An end-run around NCAA information roadblocks
Despite its deep entanglement with institutions of state government, the National Collegiate Athletics Association has managed to convince the courts that it is not subject to the same disclosure laws that apply to its state-college members.
Is high school football a news event or a commodity?
High school football games are played on publicly subsidized fields, and organized by publicly salaried coaches and athletic directors.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: Cracking the case of campus crime
Logically, records of crime on campus ought to be the easiest records for any journalist to obtain. Crime reports are among the only documents that are specifically subject to disclosure under both federal and state statutes.And yet, year after year, college journalists tell the SPLC that campus police departments are among the most recalcitrant when it comes to honoring requests for public records.Among the recurring obstacles reported by college journalists is the widespread misperception that police records can be withheld, or identifying information blacked out, because of student confidentiality laws.
Kansas student wins due process case; still sentenced to go through life as “Facebook placenta girl”
It is now recognized as illegal in the state of Kansas to summarily expel a college student just for posting a photo of herself on Facebook next to a placenta.
Tucson shootings spotlight colleges’ treatment of students with mental illness
When the initial horror of what happened in the parking lot of a Tucson, Ariz., grocery store on Jan.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: Scrutinizing the finances of university foundations
The foundations that gather donations in support of public universities exist in a nether-world straddling private and public status.
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: College Textbook Pricing
Every Tuesday during the academic year, the Student Press Law Center will be featuring a tip or story idea utilizing public disclosure laws -- a feature we're calling "Transparency Tuesdays."For starters, let's focus on that persistent peeve of cash-strapped college students everywhere: the $120 textbook.
2GTBT? It’s BBFN, c u l8r to Virginia’s teacher texting ban
Virginia teachers have gained a brief reprieve from guidelines restricting them from communicating with students by text messages, posts on social-networking sites and other non-school "platforms."As requested by the Student Press Law Center and others, the Virginia Board of Education has postponed a scheduled Jan.