Delaware and Pennsylvania are the only states with open records exemptions for “publicly funded” or “state-related” universities — institutions that receive taxpayer dollars but receive a majority of their funding from private donors. The laws permit UD, Delaware State and four other institutions — University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania State University, Temple University and Lincoln University — to limit what information the public has access to.
Author: Jenna Spoont
Muting the airwaves: As colleges sell off their radio stations, student deejays grapple with their identities in the digital age
College radio stations, home to aspiring broadcast journalists and deejays, have reached an existential crisis — whether or not terrestrial radio, or analog, benefits their organizations any longer.
California student radio station in jeopardy after ‘sexy Snapchat’ fundraiser
University officials at California Polytechnic State University could sell the student radio station’s FM frequency after two student deejays launched a fundraising campaign featuring sexually explicit photos.
Delaware governor enacts amendment to revise state’s public records exemptions
A bill signed into law by Gov. Jack Markell on Tuesday largely preserved public records and open meetings exemptions for the University of Delaware and Delaware State University, but will require the universities to produce records related to proposals or contracts that spend public funds. The law will go into effect immediately.
Georgia Public Broadcasting begins daytime programming on WRAS 88.5 amid widespread protests
Student and alumni efforts to delay or halt the start of Georgia Public Broadcasting over the formerly student-run airwaves of WRAS 88.5 FM have failed, and listeners tuning into the Atlanta station between the hours of 5 a.m. and 7 p.m. will hear talk radio instead of music programming that has been a hallmark of the station since 1971.
Neshaminy school board passes new policies limiting student publications and school-related social media rights
Student editors say they will continue to challenge publication and social media policies approved Thursday by the Neshaminy School Board.
University of Central Florida lawfully withheld records requested by student reporters
The University of Central Florida correctly withheld records that were protected by a federal education privacy law, a judge ruled this week in a public records lawsuit brought by student journalists at the university.
New Jersey journalism adviser resigns from position after censorship controversy
The adviser of a New Jersey student newspaper, whose student editor fought censorship for the past three months, has resigned from his position.
Neshaminy school board puts revised publication and social media policies on voting agenda for tomorrow’s meeting
The Neshaminy school board will vote Thursday on whether to change the publication policies of The Playwickian, the student newspaper at the high school.
Appeals court upholds judge’s decision to toughen Miami student's probation after interview with student newspaper
In retrospect, a Miami student’s interview with a reporter — in which he described his threat to kill the president as “pretty funny” — was ill-advised, considering he’d expressed remorse to a judge only a month earlier at a probation hearing.
The resulting newspaper article in The Reporter, the Miami Dade College’s student newspaper, prompted a judge to toughen Joaquin Serrapio’s probation because “the original conditions were not sufficient to accomplish the purposes of probation.” The modifications included eight more months in home confinement and 45 days in a halfway house.
Serrapio appealed the increased sanctions because he believed “that these modifications violated his rights under the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment, the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment and the First Amendment.” In a ruling handed down last week though, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s modified probation as constitutional.