In a brief filed Monday, the SPLC and seven national press-freedom organizations argue that a federal district judge erred in concluding that a public university can discontinue funding for student media anytime for any reason, even if motivated to punish the editors for unwanted viewpoints.
The student newspaper at University of Central Missouri will live online-only this academic year.
Security footage filmed on school buses is a public record, a Pennsylvania court ruled this week, reaffirming the state’s stance on the relationship between its open records laws and the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act.
I remember my final days at East St. Louis Senior High School (circa 2010). As senior class president, there was so much to accomplish in such a short amount of time. But I was no stranger to juggling commitments. Not to mention, our class officers and advisors were life savers! One fond memory I hold… Continue reading The Mission: Magnify Their Voices
Keene State’s clearer press rights policy hangs in limbo as the newspaper’s budget gets slashed and the university president resigns.
For many rising seniors, the summer leading into the school year is one of preparing to finally graduate: drafting college applications, studying for standardized tests, and taking senior portraits. For Grace Goble at Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Ill., she’s spent hers a little unconventionally: petitioning her school administration. After taking her senior… Continue reading What Not to Wear: A Yearbook Edition
A library of state-by-state reference materials created with the help of SPLC attorney volunteers can help simplify the task of understanding and enforcing open-records laws, a frequent source of tension between journalists and educational institutions.
Western Kentucky's student newspaper is honored at a college media conference for its persistent public-records digging, which provoked the university to file a "reverse FOIA" lawsuit seeking to block disclosure of information about how the college responds to sexual harassment complaints.
Practicing as a free press isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It taught me to be too responsible and too aware of how my actions affect others. It allowed me to cover stories on topics that the public needs to know more about and made me too concerned about my civic duties. It really… Continue reading Opinion: Stop holding their hands
The University of Mississippi is withholding portions of now-departed head football coach Hugh Freeze's cellphone records on the grounds that the redacted calls are "personal." But there is no blanket exemption for "personal information" in the state's Public Records Act.