Tag: Fall 2008

Public-records laws can open up a world of discoveries, rewarding persistent journalists like those in Marcy Burstiner's reporting class at California's Humboldt State University.

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At the end of each school year, students pore over their new yearbooks, looking at every picture, picking out their friends and signing messages they hope will retain meaning for years to come. By the time the next year rolls around, that annual is all but forgotten and students are ready to move on to a new year of memory making.

When student journalists write about sex it almost always raises administrative eyebrows, but when the topic turns to homosexuality, the reaction sometimes escalates from concern to alarm.

Sen. Leland Yee was one of about 3,000 protesters in the 1960s who defended a little park on the urban Berkeley campus. The park was owned by the University of California and administrators intended to replace it with a new dormitory.

California teachers stand to get more protection this fall under a bill meant to keep high school and college administrators from retaliating against them for protecting student free speech or expression.

It had been a long day at school for Avery Doninger. Her principal, Karissa Niehoff, told her about scheduling conflicts the school was having with "Jamfest" -- a battle of the bands contest Doninger worked to coordinate as junior class secretary for her Burlington, Conn., high school. Doninger believed because of those conflicts, the event would be effectively canceled.

If retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has her way, students across the country will be donning controversial T-shirts and unrepentantly violating school dress codes ' in a virtual sense, at least.

It is a routine practice for people looking for internships and jobs. One letter after another, they carefully type their names into Google and hit "Enter" to delve up their pasts. High school sprinting records. Scholarship announcements. And a mention in the university police blotter for underage drinking?

Inside, American flags will drape over the walls while balloons float to the floor below. Music will keep the mood light and delegates on their feet. Outside, protesters will rattle chain-link fences and scream insults as riot police stand ready to squash violent protests.