Illinois student newspaper sues for freedom of press
National media groups and First Amendment advocates are voicing their support for a case to go before a panel of federal judges this fall.
The case was filed by Jeni Porshe and Margaret Hosty, graduate students at the Governor State University of Illinois and editors of the school paper, the Innovator.
The two students were chosen to head the paper in the spring of 2000, and subsequently decided to revamp it, going from a publication focused on promoting university accomplishments to a critical forum for review of faculty and administrative procedure.
Porshe and Hosty published several scathing editorials about specific members of the faculty. They also criticized the administration for disregarding student concerns.
Administrators demanded that the paper stop printing such material but the editors continued. According to the students, they faced various forms of harassment -- their office locks were changed without their knowledge and security guards escorted them through the newspaper building.
When Porshe and Hosty did not stop publishing critical material, administrators allegedly instructed the faculty advisor to control their content, but he refused, claiming the paper's charter declared that students would not be censored.
Finally, on Nov. 14, 2000, administrators informed the printing service of a new policy that no paper would be published before it was submitted to them for review and approval. They claimed they were not violating the charter or the First Amendment, as they only wanted to correct spelling and grammar.
The Innovator has not been published since.
Though national media have criticized the Innovator for being unbalanced, groups are united behind the cause, saying such protections are necessary to protect the right of college publications nationwide.
Advocates ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Student Press Center will stand behind Richard Goeler, a Cincinnati lawyer who took on the case. They hope precedent protecting university publications in the past will be extended to the case of the Innovator. Illinois state legislators remain on the side of the school.
-- Compiled by Nick Chapin
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