Current Status: Rhode Island has a New Voices law, which protects public and private elementary and secondary school students and public and private college and university student journalists from censorship, and protects from retaliation advisers who refuse to infringe on their students’ free press rights. Want to further strengthen student press freedom in Rhode Island? Join the movement by contacting the SPLC’s Advocacy and Organizing Team at newvoices@splc.org.
Know Your Rights
Who is protected from censorship?
All school-sponsored publications are protected at Rhode Island’s public and private schools, colleges and universities. This includes newspapers, yearbooks, literary magazines, podcasts, broadcast, and more.
Student media advisers are protected from professional consequences for refusing to censor student media or override their students’ publication decisions.
What work can be censored?
Your work can only be restricted if it:
- is libelous or slanderous;
- constitutes an unwarranted invasion of privacy;
- violates federal or state law; or
- So incites students as to create a clear and present danger of the commission of an unlawful act, the violation of school district policy, or the material and substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the school.
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.
Contact the Student Press Law Center immediately.
Join the Movement
- Know your press freedom rights and make sure others do as well. Spread the word about Rhode Island’’s New Voices laws on social media and in your newsroom.
- Help your colleagues better understand student press freedom by inviting an SPLC expert to join you: SPLC In The Classroom.
- Rhode Island law requires your school board to have a written student journalism policy. Locate a copy of this policy. (You can use this toolkit to help you find it and some examples of red flags to look out for.) If the policy seems like it endorses censorship or doesn’t match the New Voices law, let SPLC know!
- Advocate for even more student press freedom. Is the law not good enough? Talk with SPLC’s New Voices Advocacy and Organizing Team (newvoices@splc.org) about gaps you see in the law and how we can work to make it stronger.