2008 Woodie Awards
Court decision hurts college newspapers
Nick Przybyciel
Issue date: 3/9/06 Section: News
The Supreme Court recently refused to hear an important case regarding First Amendment rights of college newspapers, leaving in place a lower court ruling that gave a university administrator the ability to censor her school's newspaper.
By declining to review the 2005 Hosty v. Carter case, the Supreme Court legitimized a ruling that may have a devastating impact on college newspapers that are not defined as a public forum.
"The problem is that it's always been assumed that a student paper is a public forum - it's inborne," said Mike Heistand, legal advisor for the Student Press Law Center. "Hosty gives school officials a roadmap or a key to set-up their student media so it is not a public forum."
Hestand recommends that all independant student publications make their public forum status official.
A policy designating the Ledger as such is being drafted and will be presented to University of Washington, Tacoma Chancellor Patricia Spakes upon completion.
Spakes has expressed support for allowing the Ledger to operate free of editorial constraints from the administration.
"The position that I would take is that it's the responsibility of the faculty advisor to work with the student newspaper to determine what falls in the standards of professional journalism," she said. "That's why you have a student newspaper. It is at least, in part, an opportunity for students to learn how to produce a newspaper and to act professionally in terms of the kind of material that you publish."
The Hosty case dates back to 2000, when three staff members at Governors State University's student newspaper, the Innovator, sued school officials after Dean Patricia Carter blocked printing of the publication. Carter insisted that she be allowed to review stories before publication after the Innovator ran several stories critical of the administration.
Both the circuit and appeals courts stated that the Innovator had the right to run a newspaper independent from administrative oversight. However, the appeals court ruled that university officials were not financially liable for their actions.
By declining to review the 2005 Hosty v. Carter case, the Supreme Court legitimized a ruling that may have a devastating impact on college newspapers that are not defined as a public forum.
"The problem is that it's always been assumed that a student paper is a public forum - it's inborne," said Mike Heistand, legal advisor for the Student Press Law Center. "Hosty gives school officials a roadmap or a key to set-up their student media so it is not a public forum."
Hestand recommends that all independant student publications make their public forum status official.
A policy designating the Ledger as such is being drafted and will be presented to University of Washington, Tacoma Chancellor Patricia Spakes upon completion.
Spakes has expressed support for allowing the Ledger to operate free of editorial constraints from the administration.
"The position that I would take is that it's the responsibility of the faculty advisor to work with the student newspaper to determine what falls in the standards of professional journalism," she said. "That's why you have a student newspaper. It is at least, in part, an opportunity for students to learn how to produce a newspaper and to act professionally in terms of the kind of material that you publish."
The Hosty case dates back to 2000, when three staff members at Governors State University's student newspaper, the Innovator, sued school officials after Dean Patricia Carter blocked printing of the publication. Carter insisted that she be allowed to review stories before publication after the Innovator ran several stories critical of the administration.
Both the circuit and appeals courts stated that the Innovator had the right to run a newspaper independent from administrative oversight. However, the appeals court ruled that university officials were not financially liable for their actions.