Student Newspaper Proposal Reaches State
Bill is response to U.S. Court of Appeals decision to allow censorship by schools
San Mateo Daily News, 4/20/2006
By Liz Harrelson
A national fight for First Amendment rights for student newspapers has hit the state level in California.
In light of a recent U.S. Court of Appeals decision that allows university administrators to censor college publications, a proposed state law is being reviews that would make such actions illegal.
"College journalists deserve the same protections as any other journalist," said California Assemblyman Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, who introduced Assembly Bill 2581 on Tuesday. "Having true freedom of the press is essential on college campuses and it is a fundamental part of a young journalist's training for real-world reporting."
AB 2581 was written in response to a recent 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in the Hosty v. Carter case that a college administrator could require student editors of a state university's newspaper to submit articles for review before the newspaper is sent to the printer for publication.
"The case appears to signal that CSU campuses may have more latitude than previously believed to censor the content of subsidized student newspapers," said California State University's general counsel Christine Helwick in an e-mail.
Before this decision, it was assumed in California that student publications had the same First Amendment protections as professional publications, Adam Keigwin, Yee's spokesman, said in a prepared statement.
"California has a long and very rich tradition of protecting speech," said Jim Ewart, legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association, "especially protecting the press and student press."
The bill, if passed in the fall, would prohibit censorship of college newspapers.
Students and faculty at Skyline College in San Bruno lauded the sentiment behind the bill on Tuesday.
"It is never our job to turn a blind eye on events that make a college look bad," said Carina Woudenberg, editor-in-chief of the Skyline View student newspaper.
"I definitely support the readers, not the administration, holding this newspaper to a higher standard," said Nancy Kaplan-Biefagal, professor of journalism at Skyline College.
Skyline College officials do not censor their student journalists, said Shelly Hausman, public information officer for the college.
Yee expects little opposition to the bill, Keigwin said.
