Myesha Phukan is an advocacy intern for the Student Press Law Center and a co-winner of the 2024 Courage in Student Journalism Award. If someone asked me what New Voices was three years ago, I would have looked at them with a blank expression. Now, if the same person asked me that same question today,… Continue reading Why I joined SPLC: An intern’s perspective on defending the student press
For years, student press advocates have been frantically pointing toward the gathering clouds that gravely threaten college news organizations: money problems, censorship and disengaged campus audiences. With a federal government that’s rewriting the rules on press freedoms and higher education, those clouds have become a perfect storm that’s rocking independent student media.
This brand-new initiative will showcase the trials and tribulations facing collegiate news organizations and their staffs, as well as highlight the great work student journalists are doing on campuses across America.
FAC and SPLC note that the decision to remove the quotes violates students’ freedom of speech protected by California law Education Code § 48907.
Student Press Freedom Day is a call to show up. It will take all of us — students, educators, advocates and community members alike — to ensure student journalists have the protections they need to continue their critical work.
Student journalists, educators and other advocates of student journalism, including an attorney from the Student Press Law Center, testified Feb. 11 at a hearing of Missouri’s House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education in support of HB 2918.
Utah’s House Education Committee has tabled the state’s New Voices bill for now, but committee members spoke favorably about student press protections in a Jan. 27 hearing. They also demonstrated willingness to work on the bill, one of the first New Voices introductions in Utah.
A California Superior Court judge last week ordered San Francisco Unified Schools to restore Eric Gustafson to his role as Lowell High School journalism adviser. A few days after the verdict, the Student Press Law Center caught up with Gustafson to chat about the ruling.
In a major win for student journalists and a warning to school administrators, a California court found this week that San Francisco’s Lowell High School violated the state’s New Voices law when they reassigned the school’s journalism adviser solely because of his students' reporting.
This rare and extreme step serves as yet another reminder that student journalists should familiarize themselves with digital security best practices, as well as the laws concerning the protection of confidential sources and materials.
