Private university's police refuse to release records

The Washington University Police Department told Student Life that because it is an agency of the private university, it is not required to follow the Missouri Sunshine Law.In a letter to editor in chief Jonathan Greenberger, a university official stated, “Washington University ...is not a ‘public governmental body.’ Therefore, the University is not subject to the Missouri Sunshine Law and other laws expressly applicable to public bodies, and the reports you seek are not open to public inspection,” Student Life reported.

College officials trash student publications

Copies of the La Roche Courier were distributed on April 14 and confiscated by college president Monsignor William Kerr three days later -- the same day prospective students and their parents toured the college during an open house.Kerr apparently confiscated the newspapers because of an editorial in the newspaper that advocated teaching students about safe sex, said Nicole Johnson, a student editor of the newspaper.

Mo. college paper in mediation over cartoon

The editor of a student newspaper at Southwest Missouri State University did not expect an editorial cartoon on Thanksgiving to spark controversy, but a student group’s complaint that the cartoon was discriminatory has landed her in school-sponsored mediation with the group this spring. The newspaper’s adviser, also under fire by the student group, refused to be involved in the mediation process.