The Student Press Law Center ("SPLC"), a national non-profitadvocacy group devoted to defending student journalists' First Amendmentrights, is urging a federal appeals court to uphold a lower court'sdecision striking down selective Virginia regulations that restrict the wordscollege student newspapers can use in advertisements for alcohol and bars.
News
Pa. high schooler wins JEA Journalist of the Year award
The Journalism Education Association announced high school senior Henry Rome as the winner of the Journalist of the Year scholarship at its spring convention in Phoenix this April.
Getting your day in court: Due process claims may succeed where First Amendment fails
The lines between off-campus and on-campus student speech are becoming blurred, and some courts have ruled that actions that occur outside the schoolhouse gate can still be punished in the principal’s office.
Between the devil and the sea
For the handful of college newspapers able to attain it, financial independence from the university is often considered the highest guarantee of editorial freedom.
College advisers in brief
Journalism professor, adviser loses tenure
WASHINGTON -- The sole journalism professor at Clark College inVancouver, Wash., was denied tenure in March by the school's Board ofTrustees, effectively firing her by June.
Christina Kopinski received a faculty committee recommendation for tenureby a vote of 3-0 with one abstention, but was then denied her job security byboard members who, she said, have yet to provide her with a reason fordenial.
Kopinski suspects board members are unhappy with the investigative approachshe teaches in her journalism classes and encourages at the student newspapershe advises.
Trying not to forget: Keeping memories of censorship alive tough with constant newsroom turnover
Constant staff turnover may be a fact of life at student publications, but it puts student journalists at a disadvantage when facing censorship and other conflicts.
Emotional coverage
On Dec. 1 of last year, the University of Washington's Daily doubled the usual size of its Monday edition, but none of the extra column inches included staff-member bylines. Instead, seven full pages were dedicated to reader letters in response to a column printed the prior week.
Preaching community, censoring news
Late last year, Gerian Steven Moore was terminated from his position as adviser to Chicago State University's student newspaper, following what he describes as administrative retaliation for his unwillingness to censor the paper's content.
Off the mainstream: Looking for an alternative
As mainstream student media across the country fight censorship battleswith their school administrations, alternative publications are popping up insteady numbers in response to their own disfavored symbols of authority 'official student newspapers.
Weighing fear against rights
Parents and educators trying to crack down on "cyberbullying" tell painful stories about students harassing their classmates with text messages and posting hurtful rumors online ' but as many students are finding out, laws and policies against cyberbullying could open new routes to attack substantive student speech.