The Student Press Law Center has launched a grass roots campaign to reach student journalists, educators, professional journalists, news executives and others interested in promoting and protecting First Amendment freedoms for students across the nation.
Tag: Spring 2005
Foul play
On Valentine's Day, University of Michigan basketball player Daniel Horton pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor domestic violence charge for allegedly choking his girlfriend in December 2004.
When the Michigan Daily student newspaper reported his plea, subsequent sentencing and suspension from the team, athletic department officials contacted the newspaper with a message that surprised Editor in Chief Jason Presick.
"They were very complimentary of our coverage because the Detroit Free Press had published the girlfriend's name and we didn't," he said.
Pa. bill lets students choose photographer
A state bill was introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate on March 23 that, if it becomes law, would allow all students--elementary and high school--to have portraits taken by a photographer of their choosing included in the yearbook, rather than one the school or yearbook staff has chosen.
Students’ off-campus Web publications out of schools’ reach, two courts affirm
In separate victories for students? free expression on personal Web sites, judges ruled in two recent cases that school officials acted in violation of students? First Amendment rights when they punished the students for off-campus Web sites they created that were critical of their schools.
N.H. court rejects student's claim that school unfairly banned photo
Londonderry High School student Blake Douglass sued his school district in October in order to force the yearbook to publish his photo, claiming the ban violated his constitutional rights. Douglass’ photo showed him clad in trapshooting clothing, kneeling with a shotgun propped over his shoulder. Douglass said he wanted to express his enthusiasm for his favorite hobby, trapshooting.
H.S. editor fired over article
Troy High School officials wrongfully justified their firing of the editor of the student newspaper with a section of the state education code that requires parental permission before schools question students about their sex lives, according to a legal analyst for the California Department of Education.
Schools block sex-related content
A cartoon showing stick figures in varying sexual positions, an article about sexually transmitted diseases and condoms and an article about the moral issue of virginity were censored by administrators who deemed them “too mature” for high school audiences this year.
Feeling the Squeeze
The voices of students who broadcast from their high school and college radio stations are in danger of being silenced due to a seldom-invoked Federal Communications Commission rule that says stations may have to share their airtime with others if they are on the air less than 12 hours a day.
Off-campus non-profit organizations are using this time-share agreement rule to file for demands to share broadcast time or take over non-commercial school stations.