Officials censor publications
Campus Times
April 23, 1999
Many may feel that the press today only spreads lies and discloses the
private lives of public people, but subtract the bad apples from a huge
basket of journalists and one is left with a group of people that fight
to inform, educate and stimulate the public. But journalists cannot do their
job if the long arm of censorship gets in the way.
Censorship is definitely the most loathed word in journalism. The mere
mention of it brings squinted eyes to the already stressed out faces, clenched
fists to the already cramped hands and an aching belly to the already ulcered-stomachs.
Censorship crushes the pride journalists take in their work, it smashes
the effort made to get information and it kills the hope of any rewards
of a job well done. Usually, the First Amendment can be used as a shield
from this suppression, but it can still occur and it has.
Big Brother has once again reared his ugly head. This time it has come
in the disguise of an university administration. It is still early in the
year, but already, censorship at its finest has been exhibited twice.
Publications at both Kentucky State University and the more local California
Lutheran University, in Thousand Oaks, were pulled from stands after a viewing
by school administrators. The decisions to pull rank over the First Amendment
have so far been upheld, one by the U.S. District Court of Kentucky Frankfort,
the latter by the CLU community.
The case of Kincaid vs. Gibson in Kentucky started four years
ago when school officials removed the student newspaper's faculty adviser
because she refused to censor the paper. Then the school's yearbook, The
Thorobred, was held from distribution because the administrators were
dissatisfied with its content and presentation, including the color of the
yearbook's cover.
Two students, Charles Kincaid and Capri Coffer filed a lawsuit against
Vice President of Student Affairs Betty Gibson, claiming that the University
abridged their First Amendment right to free speech by withholding the yearbooks
and interfering with the publication of the student newspaper.
The courts granted the school's motion to dismiss in November and upheld
it in February, by citing the 1988 U.S. Supreme Court case Hazelwood
School District vs. Kuhlmeier. The Hazlewood decision allows high school
officials to censor school sponsored publications. Although the ruling was
directed at high schools, it did not specifically include or exclude college
publications. With the citing of it in the Kincaid ruling, colleges
must now fear administrative interference.
In the case of the Cal Lu publication, Religion and Opinion Editor of
The Echo, Oliver Trimble wrote about his views of the school's sponsored
Sexual Responsibility Week, in his column "Chip on My Shoulder."
After several people complained about the March 3 publication to President
Luther Luedtke, he gave the OK to confiscate all of the issues. Trimble
wrote a retraction the week after, but he would not apologize for his opinions.
Mark Witherspoon, president of College Media Advisers, stated it best
by saying this could be devastating to the student press. "If we don't
have good journalists we don't have good democracy. If you are trying to
train journalists for the future, this kind of decision hampers journalism
educators from training good journalist and therefore endangers the future
of America."
