In the News

SIU Daily Egyptian, March 20, 2007

A law that would protect college journalists from university censorship is making its way through the Illinois General Assembly.

The College Campus Press Act, which was introduced by Sen. Susan Garrett, unanimously passed the Illinois Senate Thursday and now awaits a vote by the Illinois House.

Under the law, college media at public universities, such as SIUC, would become public forums, meaning they could not legally be subject to review by universities. The DAILY EGYPTIAN is already a "designated public forum."

The act also protects faculty advisers to campus newspapers and television stations if they refuse to suppress students' free expression.

Garrett, a Democrat from Highwood, said she worked with the American Civil Liberties Union to design the act in response to Hosty v. Carter - a 2005 court case in which the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled a student newspaper at Governors State University could be subjected to prior review by administrators.

Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the Hosty decision was troubling because it treated college media the same way it treated elementary school or high school media.

He said media owned by private companies, such as the Daily Illini at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, would not be affected by the act.

Last year, Daily Illini Editor in Chief Acton Gorton was fired for printing six cartoons featuring Mohammed that had enraged Muslims around the world.

Garret said Illinois universities and legislators have voiced support for the act.

"We've had no opposition whatsoever," she said.

Rep. Mike Bost, a Republican who represents Carbondale, said he has not had time to closely examine the bill, but he said the support from the Senate doesn't mean the House would pass the law. He said he is often suspicious of unanimous consent from a political body.

"You wonder, was it a time when nobody was paying attention, what questions were asked and everything like that," he said. "As a spokesman for higher education, I'm going to look this over very closely."

Bost said he would probably vote for the act, but he wanted to be sure the law would not have unintentional consequences that would hamper the editorial process.

"I don't want anybody controlling your freedom of speech," he said.

Jim Gee, the faculty adviser at River Region Evening Edition, said he has never experienced censorship at SIUC's television news program. He said, however, that the Board of Trustees owns the copyright to the program and could legally control the content of the show.

"I think (the act) will allow us to do with confidence what we try to do already," he said.

Bill Freivogel, interim director of SIUC's School of Journalism, said he reported on Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier - a 1988 case in which the Supreme Court ruled a high school newspaper was subject to prior restraint - when he worked at the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

"Of course I was a reporter and not supposed to have opinions, but I just thought it was a terrible decision," he said.

Freivogel said he trusted student journalists to make decisions without review from administrators.

"Students, like professional reporters, make mistakes," he said. "But it's only if they're making their own decisions that they really can learn to become journalists."