\nFLORIDA - Despite the fact the student newspaper had published\nsimilar items for the past five years, the student government\nat Florida A&M University decided this spring to take an active\nstance against the publication of a newspaper endorsement of a\ncampus presidential candidate.
The student government froze the Fauman's funds for\ntwo weeks and has tentatively reduced its funding for next year\nfrom $58,000 to $40,000.
\nWISCONSIN - A student journalist's last effort to erase\nan expulsion from his disciplinary record failed last December\nwhen a judge dismissed his civil case.
\nNEW YORK - The state's highest court ruled Feb. 11 that\na community college committee violated the state open meetings\nlaw when it imposed restrictions on a student newspaper and allocated\nstudent fees in a private session.
"The Open Meetings Law is designed to ensure that public\nbusiness is conducted in an observable manner; to promote this\ngoal, the provisions of the Open Meetings Law are to be liberally\nconstrued," Judge Joseph W.
\nRHODE ISLAND - The decision to run a controversial comic\nin The Good 5-Cent Cigar at the University of Rhode Island\nin December has cost the paper $41,000 and put the campus through\na tumultuous finals period and reconvening of campus in January.\n
An outstanding debt was discovered in response to the controversy\nover the cartoon, when the student government froze the newspaper's\nfunds and examined how much student money went into publishing\nthe paper.
\nSOUTH CAROLINA - When Maranda Williams' first of a four\narticle series appeared in her high school newspaper, it quickly\ndrew wide-eyed awes from students and teachers.
\nWISCONSIN - The Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld a ruling\nin March that will make it hard for a public officials to avoid\nscrutiny into their wrongdoing by resigning.
The court ruled that privacy and reputational interests of a former\ngovernment employee do not outweigh the public interest in the\ndisclosure of records concerning an investigation into wrongdoing.
"This ruling was not much of a surprise," said Phil\nBrinkman, a reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal. "The\nsad part is that it has dragged on for so long."
The case arose from a controversy that began in 1996 over questions\nabout a Madison elementary school principal's past, including\nallegations of sexual molestation of several school girls.
\nALABAMA - Freedom of the press has been pushed to the limit\nat Auburn University. The school's weekly newspaper, The Auburn\nPlainsman, and its editor in chief, Lee Davidson, came under\nfire for a series of investigative articles that called for the\nresignation of one of the university's trustees.
On Dec.
\nMICHIGAN - After Michelle Green's appeal challenging her\nformer high school's prior review policy was denied, she took\nher case to the Michigan Supreme Court and found the same disconcerting\nlack of welcome: Her appeal was rejected.
Green's attorney, George Washington, said the court gave no reason\nfor the denial in February, but said it probably stood behind\nthe state court of appeals' decision that Greene lacked legal\nstanding to bring the case.
\nMARYLAND - After a three-year battle, records documenting\nparking ticket abuses by University of Maryland student athletes\nare finally in the hands of the student newspaper, The Diamondback.
\nIn December, Maryland's high court ruled that information about\nunpaid parking tickets charged to student athletes and coaches\nas well as NCAA records of related violations must be open to\nthe public.
\nNewspaper theft has no boundaries as the trend seems to occur\non campuses public and private, in suburbs and cities.
In protest to campus newspaper content, coverage or even reporter\ntreatment, disgruntled students are taking it upon themselves\nto censor the newspaper by stealing many issues, sometimes even\nthe entire press run, costing the publication thousands of dollars\nin reprinting costs and lost advertising revenue.
Some of these students argue that it is their First Amendment\nright to freedom of speech to take piles of the campus paper from\ndistribution sites if they so choose.