\nMISSOURI - In the first legal actions filed since the 1998\namendments to the Higher Education Act made changes to the federal\nFamily Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), commonly known\nas the Buckley Amendment, a state judge ordered Southwest Missouri\nState University to release student disciplinary records to the\nschool newspaper in a January court decision.
Missouri Circuit Court Judge Henry Westbrook wrote in his ruling\nin Board of Governors v.
The Student Press Law Center has begun to receive calls from\nmembers of the college press who report that school administrators\nor those acting on their behalf (for example, student government\nofficials, media boards, etc.) are beginning to tell them to discontinue\nprinting political editorials or endorsements.
\nMISSOURI - The principal at Parkway West High School removed\nall of the copies of the school's student newspaper, Pathfinder,\nfrom the stands in March, because the words "crotch itch"\nappeared on the cover.
The newspaper was part of the sixth annual "Battle of the\nSexes," a newspaper series that explores gender-related issues.\nThis year's topic was "Beauty vs.
\nWASHINGTON, D.C. - Although Congress recognized the danger\nof allowing schools to cover up campus crime by passing the 1998\namendments to the Higher Education Act, many schools across the\ncountry are still unsure as to how these changes apply to them.
The law has mandated that universities release information in\npolice logs, as well as more information on crime statistics.
\nProperly implemented, these changes could mean enhanced student\nsafety on campuses across the country.
PENNSYLVANIA - Tensions have brewed to boiling point\nat the University of Pittsburgh between the student newspaper\nstaff and the campus police after an officer ripped up a reporter's\nnotes and then allegedly lied about their whereabouts.
\nMICHIGAN - When a feud between the Marshall High School\ncheerleading squad went public through the school's student newspaper\nthanks to a letter to the editor by two anonymous former cheerleaders,\nsome parents and administrators tried to shoot the messenger.
\nAfter a February issue of Smoke Signals came back from\nthe printing press, Principal Ray Davis ordered the "controversial"\narticle to be blackened out with a marker, believing it to be\nan inappropriate bashing of the sport.
Violence and crime are not the norm at the University of Hartford.\nBut in late January, one party got out of hand, and a few students\ndrew handguns in anger.
NEW YORK - A jury found a photography student not guilty\nof harassment and resisting arrest, but guilty of disorderly conduct\nin April after he says he was beaten, arrested and then had his\nfilm confiscated by police in May 1998.
\nNEW YORK - The editor of Tully High School's student newspaper\nreceived heavy criticism from his community, school and local\nnewspaper for running an announcement about an annual school-sponsored\nevent and calling it a "slave auction."
Angry administrators pulled all 500 copies of the newspaper off\nthe stands, because the phrase "slave auction," they\nsaid, was banned last year and changed to "butler auction."
Student editor Lucas Ames claimed he was not informed of the change\nand was upset that administrators confiscated the newspapers.\nThe newspaper's budget, said Ames, could not afford a reprint\nof the paper.
\nTENNESSEE - University of Tennessee administrators are\ncontinuing to hide behind outdated laws, refusing to release records\nof university judicial proceedings in accordance with last year's\namendments to the Higher Education Act, say access advocates.
The student newspaper at the University of Tennessee's Martin\ncampus and the nonprofit organization Security on Campus have\nboth been denied access to records describing the outcome of disciplinary\nproceedings at school.