A former high school student newspaper editor from Arkansas and a high school principal from Missouri received the fifth annual Courage in Student Journalism Awards presented by the Newseum, the Student Press Law Center and the National Scholastic Press Association.

\nThe awards were presented to Holly Ballard, formerly senior editor of the Bryant High School student newspaper in Alexander, Ark., and Julie Leeth, principal of Hillcrest High School in Springfield, Mo., at the National Scholastic Press Association and Journalism Education Association Fall Convention in Dallas on Nov.

Student journalists at two universities resigned their editor positions this fall because they said administrators bullied them and their staffs by criticizing content and, in one case, threatening budget cuts.

Nick Will, editor in chief of Harvard University business school's newspaper, The Harbus, resigned his post in November after administrators threatened to hold him personally accountable for future content that they found offensive.

When Tom Koutsos, a running back for the Southern Illinois University football team, injured his wrist during a game against Murray State, he never thought that disclosure of his injury could violate federal law.

The devastating effects of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1988 Hazelwood decision restricting the First Amendment rights of high school journalists just keep coming.

CALIFORNIA ' An independent student newspaper at the University of California at San Diego agreed to dismiss its lawsuit against the university.

MINNESOTA ' A university president can be a school's most important asset, so some schools do not want candidates known to the public until the deal is clinched.

The face of collegiate free speech could change in 2003.

\nThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago will determine if the free expression rights of college students are in fact greater than those of students in high school.

University personnel at two colleges took matters into their own hands, by trying to silence their student newspaper's crime coverage while parents and prospective students were making visits to campus.

During a two-day period in October, student union employees at Marquette University in Wisconsin confiscated nearly 1,000 copies of the student newspaper for carrying the banner headline, 'Savage beating just 2 miles from MU.' High-traffic bins that contained the Marquette Tribune were emptied hours before hundreds of parents were expected to visit the campus during Parents Weekend, said Libby Fry, managing editor.

NEW YORK ' A New York state trial court judge has ruled that a group that runs a campus food service and bookstore at the State University of New York at Albany is in violation of the open-meetings law and must open future meetings to the public.

It was a partial victory for Tony Gray, a SUNY student, who sued University Auxiliary Services in February 2002 after being denied access to board meetings.

College students across the nation are helping strike down policies that restrict speech and expression on school property by mounting court battles and staging campus protests.