Tag: Fall 1999

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\nMISSISSIPPI - The staff of the Daily Mississippian\nstudent newspaper is sleeping a little easier after fending off\na libel suit.

\nA story on page 22 of the Spring 1999 issue of the Report\nincorrectly reported that the Arkansas House of Representatives\npassed a bill that would have guaranteed freedom of expression\nrights to public college students.

NORTH CAROLINA - The editor of a student newspaper in\nRaleigh lost his fight to publish advertisements from a gay and\nlesbian support group and a church-sponsored youth group in April\nafter the Wake County Board of Education upheld his principal's\ndecision to censor the ads.

Matt Williams, a senior at Enloe High School and editor of\nthe Eagle's Eye, said he fought the principal's decision\nbecause other schools in the area allowed churches to advertise\nin their newspapers.

"The decision to fight came because I saw inconsistencies\nin what the school board said could be allowed and couldn't be\nallowed," Williams said.

He added that his principal, Lloyd Gardner, had previously\nallowed the school newspaper to publish the ad from the church-sponsored\nyouth group.

Williams said it was not until he wanted to run the ad from\nthe N.C.

\nMICHIGAN - The state supreme court ruled in June that a\npublic university's presidential selection process need not be\nconducted in open meetings under state law.

The Lansing State Journal and the Detroit News\nfiled suit against Michigan State University in 1993 after officials\ndenied access to that year's search proceedings.

In a 5-2 decision issued on June 15, the court decided in Federated\nPublications v.

\nWASHINGTON, D.C. - The high school editor who fought for\nand won the right to distribute his own student newspaper at an\nArizona high school has been named the winner of the 1998 Scholastic\nPress Freedom Award.

\nLOUISIANA - A police incident report on public relations\nstationery. A missing affidavit.

\nOREGON - In a ruling that could have broad implications for\nstudents who sue their schools, an appeals court denied a school\ndistrict's motion to dismiss the appeal of a high school student\nwho graduated while his lawsuit against the district was pending.

The Bend-La Pine School District argued that Chris Pangle's\nsuit against the district should be dismissed because he had graduated\nand there was no longer an ongoing conflict between the parties.

But Jonathan Hoffman, Pangle's attorney, maintained that because\nPangle was seeking retrospective relief-he was suing the school\ndistrict for past acts it had committed against him-the case was\nstill relevant.

The Oregon Court of Appeals sided with Pangle.

\nMICHIGAN - For reporters at Eastern Michigan University's\nEastern Echo, the state supreme court's June decision to\nclose a public university's presidential search proceedings will\nhave an immediate impact.

Now EMU's candidates for university president too will remain\na mystery until the Board of Regents' choice is set in stone.\nAnd then it will be too late to voice any objections.

"The general public is going to know nothing about this\nuntil [he or she] is chosen," said Emily Hamlin, editor in\nchief of the Echo. She added that the board of regents\nhad planned to hold an open presidential search before the June\n15 court ruling.

Since the court decided in Federated Publications v.

MICHIGAN -- It has been a game of tug-of-war between a student photographer at Michigan State University and a Michigan prosecutor trying to gain access to photographs taken by the student journalist during March riots on the Michigan State campus.

A Michigan circuit court in May overturned a lower court's decision that upheld a subpoena that would have forced Michigan State's student newspaper, The State News, and 10 other commercial media organizations to hand over all of their photos of the riot scene to Ingham County prosecuting attorney Stuart Dunnings.