News

Student media speak up in defense of exiled Famuan staff

In the week and a half since the staff of The Famuan at Florida A&M University learned they could not publish the paper as planned without taking part in additional training and reapplying for their position, student journalists at newspapers across the country have spoken up in defense of the Famuan staff in several strongly worded editorials and columns.Over at The Arizona Daily Wildcat, Editor-in-Chief Kristina Bui criticized the decision by FAMU administrators to shut down the paper's printing after the filing of a libel lawsuit against the paper last month.

N.C. ruling sets back college athletes’ ability to challenge removal from teams

There's an intriguing new ruling out from North Carolina's Court of Appeals that, while not directly related to free expression, portends difficulty for the inevitable legal challenge as more college athletes are punished for what they say on social media.The court of appeals decided Tuesday that a former Tar Heels football player has no claim against either the University of North Carolina or the NCAA for the loss of earnings he believes he suffered when he was barred from the team for his senior season, leaving him to enter the NFL as an undrafted free agent receiving the league's minimum salary.Michael McAdoo was kicked off the team after being accused of accepting inappropriate help from a tutor in completing a term paper for (yes, really) his Swahili class, leading the NCAA to declare him ineligible to play.On top of the NCAA disqualification, UNC suspended McAdoo for a semester and put him on academic probation, but did not take away his athletic scholarship entirely.It's worth perusing the entire opinion, but the bottom line is that, in the view of the three-judge panel in North Carolina, McAdoo has no case because he lost only playing time, not his scholarship, housing and other tangible university benefits.

Former Famuan editors start “underground” online publication, Ink and Fangs

This weekend, former editors of The Famuan at Florida A&M University launched an underground website, inkandfangs.comto distribute news during a suspension of the paper's publishing by the journalism school's dean.Karl Etters, who had been serving as editor-in-chief of The Famuan before being told last week that he would have to reapply for his job, said the staff of about 10 made the decision to create the site because they feel it's important to continue covering the campus.The Famuan's first issue of the semester was to have been published today, but staff learned last week that journalism dean Ann Kimbrough was suspending publication until staff completed training.