A key issue in the Governors State University case could be whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit agrees with the university's argument that the student newspaper should be considered a ''nonpublic forum.'' In essence, the Illinois attorney general claims that The Innovator is government property that has never been open to free expression by student editors.
\n\n No court, however, has ever found a student-edited college publication to be a nonpublic or closed forum.
MINNESOTA -- The Minnesota Daily is still waiting for answers to a complaint it filed with the Minneapolis Police Department following a riot in April.
\n\n Four student journalists -- three photographers and a reporter -- were covering the NCAA hockey championships in Minneapolis and the riot that ensued after the University of Minnesota won.
MONTANA -- The Great Falls High School senior who was expelled for posting photographs of female students on his Web site under the heading ''10 Hottest Freshman Girls'' has abandoned his intentions to take civil action against the school.
\n\n Kenny Volk was instructed by his principal, Gary Davis, to not take photos of the girls, and was suspended after the administration learned of the Web site in February.
A group of 25 media and education organizations have joined in support of student journalists at Governors State University in a case that could have profound implications for college press freedom in three Midwestern states.
\n\n The students will face the university this fall when Hosty v.
Call it the journalistic equivalent of doing the hokey-pokey: You put your good story in, you take your good story out.
\n\n Since the U.S.
OHIO -- What began as a battle over a student's right to view his Web page at school has resulted in a ruling that the conduct code at North Canton City Schools is unconstitutional.
\n\n Jonathan Coy was suspended for five days from North Canton Middle School in 2001 for viewing ''lewd and obscene material'' on his skateboarding Web site during school hours.
\n\n In April 2002, a federal trial court found that a section of the school district's conduct code was ''constitutionally invalid on its face'' because it was too vague.
\n\n The passage stated, ''Any action or behavior judged by school officials to be inappropriate and not specifically mentioned in other sections shall be in violation of the Student Conduct Code.''
\n\n The school district has since altered the code to read, ''Students will not be punished or limited in their lawful right to express themselves on-campus or off-campus in a manner that is protected by the First Amendment.''
A professor loses his job, even though his performance reviews were positive. Hiring practices are under fire at the university.
PENNSYLVANIA ' Rest is near for high school journalists who are concerned that their rights are at risk from the state board of education's red pen.
FLORIDA ' The state association that oversees attorneys is claiming that shield laws do not apply to students and that the University of Florida's student television station should be required to turn over the tape of an interview.
The Florida Bar wants the copy of a taped interview in which an attorney allegedly made a statement out of court about pending litigation, an apparent ethics violation.