Court blessing of censorship echoes at 2nd Illinois campus

Mar. 24--WASHINGTON -- The problems, say student journalists at Illinois Central College in East Peoria, began after their longtime adviser retired and a new one unveiled a policy that broke with past practice: He would have final say over the content of the campus newspaper, The Harbinger, but the paper's top editors say he promised never to use the power.

In less than two months, adviser Michael Gray began telling the students whom to hire and what to print, they say, and a few weeks ago he ordered the staff to run a biography of himself in the paper.

"He pulled a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and started demanding that we run his bio," said Brandon Hagan, 20, The Harbinger's associate editor.

Gray said the biography was just a suggestion to introduce him to the college community. He said he also asked the students to print their biographies. Gray also said he has encouraged editors to pursue hard-hitting stories.

"I think they should be expected to listen to the adviser," he added, noting he had worked as a professional journalist.

Press advocates predict such disputes between student journalists and officials will become more common now that the Supreme Court has upheld a decision by a Chicago-based federal appeals court involving Governors State University in Chicago's south suburbs.

The Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va., which defends the 1st Amendment rights of student journalists, has seen an upsurge in complaints about administrators trying to control student newspapers' content in the aftermath of the Governors State decision, Hosty vs. Carter.

The case began in 2000 when Patricia Harris, a dean at the university, ordered a now-defunct student newspaper, The Innovator, not to publish until officials could review each issue. The students, led by managing editor Margaret Hosty, sued, citing free-speech rights.

In its ruling, the 7th U.S. Court of Appeals suggested that colleges could declare their student publications non-public forums and, as at high schools, censor them.

In a brief filed with the Supreme Court, a coalition of free-speech groups called the decision "a grave threat to academic free speech" that "endangers the very existence of independent college media." In February, the court declined the case.

Legally, the precedent applies only to public colleges in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin--the three states covered by the appellate court. But nationwide, college editors and administrators are tinkering with their papers' policies to prepare for battles over content.

Press freedom is well-established in American law, but student newspapers operate in a relatively murky area. Campus publications often appear to be freewheeling, but some are largely supported by their schools, which might give the schools some control. Some student publications are funded independently and have free rein, and private universities that fund their papers are allowed to control content.

Essential question

The battlefield is on the campuses of public universities that fund student newspapers. Do 1st Amendment principles mean administrators must keep hands off, or can a school argue that if it's paying, it gets some say over content?

In 1988, the Supreme Court ruled that high schools have significant censorship authority, but the court hasn't extended that authority to colleges.

In Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, at least, the answer might depend on whether a paper can convince its school to declare it a public forum. That would grant it editorial freedom and give the school some legal protection if someone sues.

"Much of the action in student press cases, in the 7th Circuit at least, will now focus on whether the publication is a public forum or a non-public forum," said Gary Feinerman, the solicitor general of Illinois.

At Illinois Central, Harbinger editor in chief Dawnell Zeine expected to hear Thursday about the outcome of the school's legal review of the newspaper handbook. Vice President Bruce Budde said the review is pending.

The students maintain that in telling them to run his bio, Gray was issuing an order, not making a suggestion. They provided e-mail exchanges with Gray, the authenticity of which was confirmed by a college spokeswoman, to validate the claims.

"The new handbook . . . makes it clear that I am the final word," Gray wrote to one of the editors on March 1. "Are you in or out?"

The Gray bio didn't run after Zeine balked.

Seven months before the Supreme Court declined to take up the Hosty case, Christine Helwick, California State University's general counsel, told all 23 campus presidents in the Cal State system that the appellate court ruling could permit official censorship when newspapers aren't labeled "public forums."

'Censorship is appropriate'

"Censorship is appropriate," she wrote in a memo obtained by the Student Press Law Center, when a school regularly supervises and reviews content.

Schools nationwide are generally taking one of two approaches. Illinois State University's president, for instance, declared its newspaper a public forum in 2005; officials at the University of Louisiana at Monroe decided this year to require the student paper to be approved before it goes to print.

Maintaining a newspaper as a non-public forum might create legal vulnerability for the school if someone sues for libel, the Cal State memo conceded.

Press advocates argue that the 1st Amendment protects even newspapers that aren't declared public forums, but the designation helps solidify editorial independence.

Even if a newspaper gets a public-forum stamp, some fear administrators will rescind the policy during controversies.

"I think they will put it, quote unquote, under review, when push comes to shove," said Greg Lukianoff, president of the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. "They're very good at respecting free speech in theory, not nearly as good as protecting it in practice."

mchayes@tribune.com

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