College privacy case settled

\nPENNSYLVANIA - An invasion of privacy case involving the\nuse of a college student's image has been settled out of court.\n

Koran Christian, who graduated from Lafayette College in 1996,\nsued the school in 1997 when he discovered the school had used\na photo of him and his mother on a financial aid brochure.

FERPA changes result in triumph in Mo.

\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.

Paying for free speech

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.

Clearing up changes to Higher Education Act

\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.

Letter to the editor gets newspaper in trouble

\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.