Current Status: Minnesota has a New Voices law. The law protects public and charter school students, grades six through 12, from censorship. The law also protects advisers from retaliation for refusing to infringe on their students’ free press rights. It does not protect yearbook. Want to strengthen student press freedom in Minnesota? Join the movement by emailing the SPLC’s Advocacy and Organizing team at newvoices@splc.org.
Know Your Rights
Who is protected from censorship?
School-sponsored publications are protected at Minnesota’s public and charter schools, grades six through 12. This includes newspapers, literary magazines, podcasts, broadcast, and more. However, it does not include yearbooks at this time.
Student media advisers are protected from adverse employment actions by their employer schools for refusing to censor student media or override their students’ publication decisions.
What work can be censored?
School-sponsored student media can only be restricted if it:
- Is defamatory;
- Is profane, harassing, threatening, or intimidating;
- Constitutes an unwarranted invasion of privacy;
- Violates federal or state law;
- Causes a material and substantial disruption of school activities; or
- Is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action on school premises or the violation of lawful school policies or rules, including a policy adopted in accordance with Minnesota Education Code
What happens if I’m being censored?
Try to get any communication from your school in writing, or write down your own memory of events as they happen. School officials must tell students in advance their reason for censoring student media expression. You should ask for their justification before your media is restricted. Contact the Student Press Law Center immediately.
Other Ways to Get Involved
- Refine your thoughts with talking points, find answers to frequently asked questions, or find other resources here.
- Locate a copy of your school district’s student media or student expression policy. This toolkit can tell you everything you need to know about your policy and what you can do with it. Some student media policies offer legal protection equal to or even exceeding New Voices protections. If that’s the case, spread the word! (And let SPLC know, too.)
- Help your colleagues better understand student press freedom by inviting an SPLC expert to join you: SPLC In The Classroom.
- Spread the word about New Voices. Enlist all your friends in Minnesota to raise their voices in support of this measure, which ensures the basic First Amendment rights of student journalists and protects their advisers from retaliation.
Why Minnesota needs New Voices
Endorsements
You can see the list of national endorsers at the bottom of this page.
Recent news
- Decade of persistence, student voices behind Minnesota’s New Voices success (7/16/2024) - Nearly a decade of advocacy finally paid off this year for Minnesota’s New Voices supporters, but they say there is still more work to do for student press freedom in the state.
- Minnesota governor signs student press freedom into law (5/19/2024) - The Student Press Law Center, the nation’s leading advocate for student press freedom, hailed the adoption of new protections for Minnesota student journalists. Gov. Tim Walz signed SF 3567 into law on Friday, officially making Minnesota the 18th state to adopt what are known nationally as “New Voices” protections.
- Minnesota House, Senate pass updated bill with New Voices protections (5/16/2024) - The final version of Minnesota’s education policy omnibus bill, SF 3567, passed the House and Senate this week after a conference committee reconciled differences between earlier versions passed by each chamber.
- Minnesota Senate, House pass bill with student media protections (4/12/2024) - A bill partially inspired by the New Voices movement to protect the rights of student journalists has passed both the Minnesota Senate and House, and it now heads to a conference committee to work out differences between the two versions unrelated to student media.
- SPLC submits testimony on Minnesota New Voices bills (3/14/2024) - On March 13, student journalists and other supporters of student press freedom testified in the Minnesota Legislature in support of HR 4083 and SF 3998, companion bills that would protect press freedom in the state's school-sponsored media.