News

COLORADO — Three editors of a student newspaper at the University of Northern Colorado have filed a lawsuit against each member of the university's board of trustees "to vindicate their freedom of speech rights."

Plaintiffs Heath Urie, editor in chief, Christopher Marcheso, managing editor, and Andrew Rosenthal, news editor, allege that the board approved a recommendation to reduce of The Mirror's funding by 40 percent because of the newspaper's content — specifically articles that were critical of the board and the university's Student Representative Council.

WASHINGTON — A high school radio station could be forced off the air by a Federal Communications Commission order that allows a commercial station to relocate into the high school station's frequency.

On July 9, the FCC reissued an order that allows Mid-Columbia Broadcasting Inc. to relocate KMCQ from The Dalles, Oregon, to Covington, Wash.

MINNESOTA — The state's highest court has ruled that the University of Minnesota Board of Regents must comply with open-meetings and open-records laws when searching for a university president.

KANSAS — A federal court on July 14 dissolved a temporary restraining order that kept administrators at Kansas State University from reassigning student publications adviser Ron Johnson.

Johnson temporarily was reinstated to his position on July 6 after the same federal court issued an order that required university administrators to allow him to resume his position of adviser and director of Student Publications, Inc., the organization that oversees the finances of the newspaper and other student media at the university.

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ALASKA — A federal appeals court heard arguments last week in the case of a former high school student who was given a 10-day suspension by his school for displaying a controversial poster at an event off school grounds.

On July 9, Douglas Mertz, an attorney representing Joseph Frederick on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, argued that a lower court was wrong to uphold the Juneau School District’s decision.

COLORADO — A state district court has denied the Mesa State College Board of Trustees' request to dismiss a lawsuit alleging it violated state open-meetings laws during its search a new college president.

Megan Fromm, former editor of a Mesa State College student newspaper, the Criterion, believes that the board illegally entered into executive session to discuss the procedure for finding a new president for the college in Grand Junction.

ALASKA — A state court ruled June 25 that a federal student privacy law does not prohibit disclosure of lawsuit settlement terms reached by the Anchorage School District and that the school district could not enter into confidential settlements because it is a public body.

The court found that the district's use of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as a justification for not releasing the details of legal settlements was improper.

KANSAS — Former Kansas State Collegian adviser Ron Johnson temporarily was reinstated to his position on July 6 after a federal court issued a restraining order that requires university administrators to allow him to resume his position.

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CALIFORNIA — A student journalist at San Francisco State University is awaiting the results of a university investigation prompted by a professor who filed a complaint against the student because he took pictures of an activist posting signs in the professor's classroom.

Jason Steinberg, a photographer for The Golden Gate Express, a student newspaper, followed an unidentified student activist around campus on May 11 as she organized a walkout protesting university budget cuts.

OREGON — Western Oregon University administrators have ordered a student who was the subject of a political cartoon in a bimonthly student newspaper to pay $100 for stealing multiple bundles of the campus-distributed publication.

Witnesses spotted the student taking stacks of the Western Oregon Journal, a free newspaper distributed at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, on June 4 from its distribution bins.