Court Fight Looms Over College Paper

Wed Jul 24, 1:01 PM ET

By MIKE ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO (AP) - Concerned about stories appearing in the campus newspaper, a dean at Governors State University telephoned the printer one night with some instructions.

Patricia Carter, dean of student affairs at the state school in University Park, 30 miles south of Chicago, ordered him not to print any copies of the newspaper until she or one of the faculty members had reviewed the stories.

Nearly two years later, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ( news - web sites) is considering a challenge to that move in a case that could test freedom of the press on campus.

News industry groups such as The Associated Press Managing Editors Association and the American Society of Newspaper Editors say there is a danger the case could extend to college newspapers a 14-year-old U.S. Supreme Court ( news - web sites) decision that gives high school principals power to control student publications.

"If the court adopts the argument the university is making, that very well could be an effective conclusion to meaningful First Amendment protection of college student journalists," said Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va.

The center plans a friend-of-the-court brief supporting two former student editors, Jeni Porche and Margaret Hosty, and a former student writer, Stephen L. Barba, who are challenging the school's policy. Both the ASNE and APME have signed on to the brief.

Porche and Hosty became editors of The Innovator at 6,000-student Governors State in May 2000 and quickly launched investigations of what they claimed were improprieties on campus, including grade inflation and overly generous student stipends. Both sides agree the claims stirred no controversy. But relations with administrators soured.

"We weren't just going to print sunshine news," Hosty said.

In October 2000, Carter insisted on reviewing the paper before publication. When the printer expressed qualms on freedom-of-the-press grounds, Carter reminded him that the administration and not the students paid his bills.

As it turned out, the paper had already been printed. But it was the last issue. The two former editors said the printer feared he wouldn't be paid and refused to print further issues of the paper until the feud ended. The paper still has not resumed publication.

University spokeswoman Carolyn Dennis declined to comment on the case and said the school would not make Carter available for interviews.

The state has argued that university administrators had every right to exercise some measure of control over the paper.

Joel Bertocchi of the Illinois attorney general's office, which is defending the school, said censorship never took place.

"The dean said, `I want to see this,' and the students said, `We aren't going to write anything,'" Bertocchi said.

The two editors first sued the university trustees and a number of administrators. A federal judge dismissed the allegations against all but Carter. The appeals court will decide whether Carter must face trial.

At the heart of the legal battle is the Supreme Court's 1988 decision in the case of Hazelwood School District vs. Kuhlmeier. The decision gave wide powers to high school principals to control student publications.