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Student press freedom bill unanimously clears Senate committee as school lobbyists drop opposition

Sally Renaud and Stan Zoller of the Illinois Journalism Education Association strategize at the Illinois Capitol after a student press rights bill won unanimous Senate committee approval.

ILLINOIS -- Legal protection for Illinois high school journalists cleared its toughest legislative hurdle Tuesday and is headed for the Senate floor. Two weeks after giving House Bill 5902 a skeptical hearing that cast doubt on its prospects, members of the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed the measure, setting up a Senate floor vote that… Continue reading Student press freedom bill unanimously clears Senate committee as school lobbyists drop opposition

New Voices advocates regroup in Missouri after bill stalls in state Senate

Missouri JEA President Mitch Eden (right) presented Missouri Rep. Elijah Haahr with the association's "Friend of Scholastic Journalism Award" after a Senate committee hearing on Haahr's Walter Cronkite New Voices Act.

A bill that sought to protect the First Amendment rights of Missouri student journalists quietly died in the state Senate this month. It would have prevented public schools and colleges from censoring student-produced media. The Walter Cronkite New Voices Act, named after the Missouri native and iconic broadcast journalist, spent this spring climbing the state legislative… Continue reading New Voices advocates regroup in Missouri after bill stalls in state Senate

NEWS RELEASE: SPLC asks federal appeals court to protect student groups' right to use college logos

A federal court is considering Iowa State University's appeal of a ruling recognizing the First Amendment right of a student group to use the college's logo on a T-shirt conveying a pro-drug-legalization message, an issue implicating the free-speech rights of all college students. 

Pennsylvania court extends school's disciplinary reach into student's off-campus Facebook joke

A federal district judge sided with school disciplinarians in a First Amendment case involving a joke posted to Facebook, but the court also struck down as unconstitutional a school policy that made "inappropriate" speech a punishable disciplinary offense if there was any possibility of disruption at school.