Oh, that First Amendment karma. When it bites back, it bites back hard.Darrel Hammon of Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyo., comes from the land of bighorn sheep.
Author: Frank LoMonte
AG Cuccinelli’s go-ahead to search student cell-phones raises Fourth Amendment questions
In the understandable haste to spare kids from the brutal impact of bullying, some school systems are pushing against constitutional boundaries to assert authority not only to seize students' cellphones but to read the messages stored on them.Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli waded into this controversy in a November 24 opinion issued at the request of a Virginia legislator, Robert Bell.
Hasta la vista, transparency – Sen. Yee’s attempt at reforming university foundations falls victim to Terminator 2
True Movie Trivia Fact: Actress Linda Hamilton suffered lasting hearing impairment as a result of loud gunfire on the set while filming "Terminator 2."So perhaps this provides a medical explanation for the deafness of her co-star, California Gov.
New guidelines may provoke confusion as Clery Act marks its 20th
Jeanne Clery lost her life in April 1986, but there is no telling how many lives have been saved since then due to her family's tireless work to make sure that college students have adequate warning of campus safety threats.The Jeanne Clery Act took effect twenty year ago (November 8, 1990), an enduring memorial to the 19-year-old Lehigh University student who was murdered in her dorm room by a fellow student.
Do campus crime numbers add up? You do the math.
In college newsrooms across the country, October is circled on the calendar -- or if not, it should be -- as time to update the campus on the past year's crime statistics.Thanks to the federal Jeanne Clery Act, all colleges receiving federal aid (private as well as public) must disclose each Oct.
Unfunny rape joke + offensive cartoon = a recipe for newsroom disaster
If there are two things that are guaranteed to get a college newspaper in hot water, they are (1) making light of sexual assault and (2) publishing an offensive cartoon.
“State of the First Amendment” 2010: The public is smarter than those running public schools
Principals who are asking courts, legislatures and school boards to grant them unchecked authority to regulate what students say on social-networking sites during their off-hours may be swimming against the tide of public opinion.Just in time for Constitution Day, our friends at the First Amendment Center are out with their annual "State of the First Amendment" poll, a telephone survey of 1,003 adults nationwide taken between July 28 and Aug.
Touching the third rail of school reform — if teachers are accountable, why not principals?
When public school teachers are terrible at their jobs -- when their students consistently fail to learn anything, when they are demeaning or abusive to those under their supervision -- they can be denied pay raises, refused tenure, discharged and (in extreme cases) brought before teacher certification boards and stripped of their licenses.
The end of a rugged Trail — a community-college adviser reflects on bringing journalism to the First Amendment wilderness
It is difficult, under optimal conditions, for a student newspaper to publicize unflattering facts about the college that hosts and finances it.
“If only someone would fix this … oh wait, that’s MY job.”
“If it was up to me and the law allowed it, I would put out student attendance data and hold parents accountable.