MARYLAND -- Tara Williams never thought that standing up for her and her students' First Amendment rights would cost the Baltimore Southern High School adviser her job.
But that is exactly what happened, Williams said, when principal Thomas Stephens declined to renew her contract.
CALIFORNIA -- Janet Ewell started the newspaper at Rancho Alamitos High School with "a ream of paper, a pencil, and a bunch of students who couldn't get into the classroom." Now she says she's being removed from her adviser position for simply doing a good job.
CALIFORNIA -- An underground newspaper at the University of California at San Diego has filed a lawsuit alleging that the university is abusing the campus judiciary process in an attempt to stop publication of The Koala.
The independent publication asked for $1 million in damages on June 5 alleging repeated attempts by the university to silence the humor publication.
Satirical, politically charged content has made an impression on college campuses this year, leading to policy changes, apologies and even the resignation of two student editors.
Black students expressed outrage at The Minnesota Daily's decision to run this cartoon in a parody issue (click for larger image). |
At the University of Minnesota it has been a long-standing tradition to lampoon campus figures and issues in the finals week edition of The Minnesota Daily. This year, the jokes went a little too far in the eyes of some readers.
MASSACHUSETTS -- Libel charges, stolen magazines and sexual harassment claims plagued The Primary Source over the course of the last year.
VIRGINIA -- Using racial epithets -- even in the spirit of camaraderie -- may lead to the expulsion of students in Prince William County Public Schools beginning next fall.
The school board voted 7-1 on May 22 to adopt the change in the district's code of conduct after an uproar over students singing along to a popular song that included the lyric "nigger" during a school basketball game.
INDIANA -- In a decision that further clarifies a college's obligation to maintain campus police logs under federal law, the U.S.
CALIFORNIA -- A case before the state supreme court could determine whether people who publish Web sites in other states can be forced to defend themselves from lawsuits in California, even if they have no business dealings there.
The case involves former Purdue University student Matthew Pavlovich, who is being sued by the DVD Copy Control Association for posting information on his Web site about decoding encrypted DVDs.
PENNSYLVANIA -- The state board of education, after being heavily criticized by newspapers across that state, has decided not to tamper with regulations protecting the rights of student journalists.
The announcement, which came at a hearing held Wednesday in Harrisburg, ends months of lobbying by high school journalists, advisers and professional newspapers.
MASSACHUSETTS -- A state appeals court last week dismissed a libel suit against a former student journalist who was sued by a Wellesley College professor.
Professor Tony Martin claimed former Massachusetts Institute of Technology student Avik Roy libeled him in a 1993 article printed in Counterpoint, a publication written by MIT and Wellesley students.