Tag: Winter 2002-03

Every year, student journalists across the country experience an age-old form of censorship through newspaper theft.

As high school students grow more Internet savvy, the Web is playing a bigger role as an avenue for student free expression.

Administrators are striving to be more watchful for criticism or threats posted online by their students, disciplining those who may cross the line and sometimes ending up in court (See COURTS, page 17).

A number of incidents around the country indicate trends in student Web activities and how administrators are reacting.

'Although courts have given school officials broad authority to regulate and punish students' expression while they are in school, teachers and administrators need to recognize that the First Amendment limits their authority to play parent when the students are home,' said Kim Watterson, an attorney working for the American Civil Liberties Union of greater Pittsburgh.

CALIFORNIA ' A month after 1,000 copies of the University of California at Berkeley's student newspaper were stolen, the city's mayor was charged with a criminal infraction for the theft.

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates admitted in December to being involved in stealing and trashing copies of the Nov.

Congress has given college radio stations that broadcast on the Internet like Cayuga Community College's WDWN in Auburn, N.Y., a new lease on life.

MASSACHUSETTS ' The Primary Source at Tufts University in Medford filed a complaint against Carl Jackson, former president of the Pan-African Alliance for stealing at least 1,000 copies of the November 2001 issue.

After mediation with the dean of students and dean of judicial affairs in November 2002, Jackson was not suspended but ordered to pay the conservative magazine $522 for damages.

'The payment we consider an admission of involvement,' said Megan Liotta, editor in chief of the Source.

She said Jackson was involved with other thefts of the magazine that resulted in the loss of 4,300 copies between October 2001 and January 2002.

CALIFORNIA ' The California Supreme Court ruled in November that a company could not sue an Indiana college student in a California court for copyright infringement.

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.