Student Reporters Fight for News Access CONTENTS Splcreport Staff
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Student reporters fight for news access CONTENTS SPLCReport Staff . Resisting Resistance . 8 EDITORS StUdenlS s l ruggle for informalion under FOIA David Danner . ColumbIa UniverSIty Students Need Not Apply ... ..... .. ... .. 34 Lisa Najavits Shield laws, press pass policies oflen exclude studenl journalisls _ ......•.. .. __ . _ . --_.. --_. ......... __ _, , .. ._ .. .. _, ._ . _ _ . -- _._-_ _ . Barnard CoI!ege . _-- -_ DEPARTMENTS . ......._ -'==== .. _-.. _ -�.----.._-,-_ ======= _ - COVER ARTIST . BobStaake Access .......................................... 4 UnIVersIty 01 Soul Min C3hlomla Oregon sludenl challenges �ch(}(ll board access denial .. TYPIST Arkansas �tuden(s wi n accredilalion Dolores Risner Legislation . .. 7 DIRECTOR Carler proposes legislalion 10 oven urn Slanford Daily decision Michael D. Simpson . Privacy ... ...... .. ..... .... ... 10 Newspapers may pu blish lhe names of juveniles StudentPress La w Center Libel ....................................... , ... 12 Executive committee COUf! deems student officers public figures for libel pu rposes carol Ann Hall Studen t P ress ......... , ................. .... , ... 16 a, """ Gho�01 Khomeini carloon sparks dealh Ihreal AtChsrOJohns �MJIJSaoI Soc :y . Censorship . ........ ......... ..... .. 28 ICCJA rips Elgin adminiscralion ... Indiana sludenlS sue Legal advisory committee 10 revi ve student newspaper . .. 01(1 lopher Fa�er. Esq Alan LeVine, ESQ Advisers . ..... ...... ........ ...... ..... 40 Leon Lelwin. FlObeltTl ager Esc! Perry ouseed al Kenl Slale ...Fired adviser wins $22,500 Advisory board Ethical Issues ...................................43 Gloria Brown Anderson BarbaraHines Ivy league edilors deal Wilh Playboy ad .,CommlllWC.aJiO'lt M�J�tx1ScIIoIatIc Pr.u I<dvtaf$ A$5Il Yearbooks .. ............. .... ... , ............' ..45 Abraham Bass Leslie Howell AWl I ..aiSCMI/I!LWIIIY� N GfIiiIISc� PI FBI probes phocography kickbacks Jot/r/liPSm "-" 1aoC/ rlCl� 'P fiotl m PrPu . SctIOOI Assn Lou s Ingelhart Afterword . ...... .. ... ... .... ..47 ulhan S. Bell Jack Landau wins n ism HorI ScI'lOOl PreasASs/! Darren Johnson SPLC jou r al award MItI Ropon.,.CommIl IH lot Dr Regs L Boyle TfN(Jom 01 /IWI�� Coou � ... The Student Press Law Center >c� AdVl_� AsIn. Kay Lockridge John Buller Sooftt(1I �III� The Siudent Press Law Center is lhe only na( ional organization de 10 ..4 HI¢ ScnooI'" � s.u- ON0eII. voced exclusively 10 protecting lhe First Amendment righes of high RonClemons C Marshall MallOCk school and college journalists. The Center is a nalional legal aid ��lD1ASs/1 E""". 51 P1wss A5:;n agency providing legal assistance a nd information 10 siudent jour James Crook Jack Nelson nalisls and faculty advisers experiencing censorship and ot her legal � Pntu Hrgh SGIlOClI "-' LDI AtIgM!s Ti . -------problems. -_ . .. _. _ _ W B Daugherty . Charles O· Malley ComJI".n"y �� """ The SPLC Aep�EL.. � $J;IIDi ICp, "ANn S. GaleDenley SPLC Report, published Ihree times each year by the Student Press ScnoIwICPr_AW1 James Presnell Law Center. summarizes current conlroversies involving student Kennelh Devol press rights. The SPLC Reporf is researched. writlen and produced "J.lllE�_ 1ot ... Morton 0 Schaap entirely by jou rnalism and law student interns. Will am 0 DownsJ r FIOt Sc' UI/C p,_ """ The SPLC seeks student-produced drawings or pholographs to " HifIItSc..- Pt ,,_ Alberl Scroggins Report. copies of your W,lliam FiShel Scxr.11tm1II /fII p� ...." iIIuslrate the SPLC Please send materials to lhe SPLC office. Rober! Skinner ��-�-----�� r"" F_ St udent Press Law Center Report, Vol. II. No. 2, Spring 1979, is Julie Fo rd published by lhe Sludenl Press Law Center, Suile 1112, 1750 Penn Su u A.un sylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20006, (202) 347-6888. Copy Nancy Green right © 1979, Sludent Press Law Center. All righls reserved. Year " H'9IlSchOOlPt� ANn Flobert Tot llngham ly subscriptions to lhe SPLC Report a re $5.00for students, $10.00 DavId Hackel! for non-sludents. All olher contribulions are lax deductible. A Rot.tI r IC4IrrnaCtr' � e _ sul?�crjpli?n ord r fO�'!1 _aeee�r.s ol1 . .fl.a�� 33. .. __ __ _ . Mary Hartman . __ Orevao' The Sludent Press Law Cenler also offers for sale lhe Manual jor Ray Henry LesleyLee ZlmlC Student £ypression: The First Amendment Rights 0/ the High II �·h P, School Press for $1.00 (2- 10 copies $0. 75 each, more (han 10 . __ . __ . _ ___ _ copies $O·?9 ���_ . __ __ ____ ._. _ .._ .. _ __ _ _ ..... ---_... .. _--_.. ... --- ..._ _ .. _ _ - .. 2 Spring 1979 SPLC Report LETTERS ====== ========== ---�-====��--�----��====================== 'Stand up Transou contests and protest' 'no tenure' label To the editor: To the editor: I have been an avid student journal Re: "Students Win Lawsuit, Lose ist for the past two years. During (his Adviser" and "Students Victorious in time, one of my major concerns has N.C. Suit," SPLC Report (Vol. II, been the protection of the First No. I). Amendment rights of students working A basic journalistic principle (hat is on high school newspapers, literary drilled into any student of the craft is publications, and the like. As such, I the ethical responsibility and legal ne was most impressed by the Student cessity of accurately checking all facts I Press Law Center when became relative to a story prior to publication. aware of it through Mike Simpson's SPLC purports to be an organiza keynote address last February 22 at the tion dedicated to the support and pro Annual High School Journalism Con tions on student rights. My adviser tection of First Amendment rights of ference. held here in Milwaukee at read the article, said that r was wrong high school and college journalists. UWM. 1 share his remorse over the "all the way down the line" and told One would expect proper journalistic fact that there is a need for an organi me that he would not let the article be rigor at all levels to be the routine of zation like the SP LC. However, as published unless it was offset by a re such an organization. It is dishearten long as a few see fit 10 trample upon buttal statement by a school official in ing and confusing when such organiza the rights of others, someone must the same issue. (He even offered to tions blindly publish erroneous copy. stand up and protest. write the rebuttal.) I told him that such Tag lines essential to the slant of During my tenure as student editor a policy would not only contradict our both articles in queslion state, for two different student sponsored. editorial policy against prior review. it "Schultz, who is lenured, was replaced publications, I have been most vocifer would be an infringement on my rights of as adviser by a nontenured English ous in defense our First Amendment and a retreat to the blandness of "tin rights. As editor-in-chief of the Pius teacher with no journalism experi pan" objeclivity. But the episode has a ence." Since you failed 10 check with Scope (the student publication of Pius XI High School) [Wisconsin). r have either my principal, my associate su weathered the storms of several at perintendent of personnel, or my su I ob tempts at censorship of student report HSeveral administrators perintendent of education, am liged to inform you that at the time of ers. For example, when I was manag feared that my appointment to advise the Wildcat ing editor for the Scope in my junior Prowll had both tenure and experience year. several administrators and fa the article would give Pius in journalism. culty members tried to stop us from a bad image. publishing an investigative story. These Perhaps you should examine your people feared that the article, which I took the position that own practice or at least re-read legal dealt with filthy and unsanitary condi we shouldn't sweep definitions of libel per quod. tions in the school cafeteria and locker Retraction is in order. our problems in school rooms, would give Pius a bad image Enclosed is a check for resubscrip " and prompt protests from parents. I under a rug. tion to your publication in the name of took the position that the story should my journalism class. be published, mailllaining that we Cordially, shouldn't sweep Our problems in David G. Transou school under a rug. As a result of the happy ending-my column was pub Adviser, Wildcal Prowl efforts of other students and me, the lished without immediate rebuttal and Eastern Randolph High School article was printed and spurred useful received critical acclaim. Ramseur, N.C. feedback on the problem we were Furthermore. as a feature editor for probing. Metro Student News I have supported SPLC Reporl contacted Transou by Also. during thaI same year, I had articles that const ruci ively dealt wit h telephone in April and learned (hat he authored an editorial column thaI was subjects like teenagers' sexual activi had had tenure for three years when cril ieal of school administ rators for ties, birth control, venereal disease,' appointed adviser (0 Ihe Wildcat what I felt to be their undue imposi- and athlete abuse. Prowl. Although he has never taken a It's good to know that one has for course in journalism, he had been a midable allies in the effort to protect SPLC Report welcomes letters stringer for the Winston-Salem Sen the First Amendmenl rights of student from readers. Letters should be tinel while in high school and later journalists. I extend my gratitude and typed and double-spaced. Be served as newspaper adviser in a mid promise of support, now and always. cause of space limitations, those dle school. He was also involved with a Keep up the good work. published are subject to abridge magazine for Project Zoo, a federally IV ment. Michael Gauger, funded Title project. Report regrets Milwaukee, Wisconsin. CJ the error. 0 ----_ ._-----_. SPLC Report Spring 1979 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ACCESS subject, an article he called "inac curate.