North Dakota's lawmakers have approved an anti-Hazelwood law to protect students' speech rights, helping rebuild a national movement.
A catalyst for reform: North Dakota's new anti-Hazelwood law has rebuilt a national movement
News
Snap away: Pennsylvania becomes the seventh state to recognize a right to take smartphone photos of public records
A police department in Reserve, Pa., tried to stop a public-records requester from making his own duplicates of government expense-account documents. But the state open-records commission, adding Pennsylvania to a growing list of states, says there's a legal right to take pictures of government documents.
Former Mississippi student who was suspended for posting rap song online loses his appeal to the Fifth Circuit appeals court
The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of a Mississippi school district for suspending a student for a rap video posted online, furthering a debate on whether the Tinker standard should apply to off-campus speech.
Michigan State University must release the names of suspects who are student athletes to ESPN, court rules
An appellate court judge has ordered Michigan State University to release the names of football and men's basketball players when they are identified as suspects in police reports that ESPN requested.
Journalism organizations join forces for "J-Team" response to college censorship
The Student Press Law Center and other leading journalism organizations have announced an intensive boot-camp training project to provide support for college journalists facing high levels of censorship from administrators.
Adviser for The Matador placed on indefinite administrative leave
The student media adviser for The Matador student newspaper, which has been involved in a censorship dispute, was placed on administrative leave indefinitely, after an encounter with the principal at yearbook camp.
Congress' proposed FERPA amendments restrict use of student data for "marketing," while leaving public-records access problems unaddressed
Four bills are pending in Congress to tighten access to student data under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. None of the measures appears to worsen journalists' access to public records from schools and colleges, but none addresses the well-documented misuse of FERPA to conceal campus scandals under the guide of "student privacy."
ESPN's quest to open Notre Dame police records gets a huge assist
Indiana's attorney general has thrown the state's influential weight behind a lawsuit seeking access to police records at Notre Dame, whose attorneys claim the private institution is exempt from the state public-records act. Sports network ESPN is trying to make Indiana the third state this year to declare private-college police reports open for public inspection.
Student suspended for tweet can continue with lawsuit against school district and police chief, judge rules
The federal judge wrote that the student, who was threatened with expulsion over a sarcastic two-word tweet, had a plausible argument that his school district violated his First and 14th Amendment rights.
North Dakota John Wall New Voices Act (2015)
North Dakota's John Wall New Voices Act ensures the free-speech rights of journalism students in North Dakota public schools and colleges.