Kentucky (2001)
Do college administrators
have authority to censor the content of student yearbooks and newspapers? Federal
District Court Judge Joseph M. Hood said in 1998 they do, but in January of
2001 the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court's ruling
with a 10-3 decision and powerfully reaffirmed the constitutional protections
of campus free speech.
The latest ruling follows
a lower court decision in 1998 and a divided three-judge Court of Appeals decision
in 1999, both of which held that Kentucky State University administrators did
not violate the Constitution when they halted distribution of hundreds of KSU
yearbooks over quality and content objections and demoted the student publications
advisor after she allowed material critical of the school administration to
be published in the campus newspaper.
Many journalism faculty
and professionals argued that these rulings, based upon a Supreme Court decision
permitting censorship of high school publications, don't apply to a university
setting. "Student journalists at public colleges and universities are not minors
and have enjoyed legal protections equal to those afforded the commercial media,"
states a resolution passed by the Association for Education in Journalism and
Mass Communication (AEJMC).
Supported by AEJMC, journalism
schools and student advocacy organizations nationwide, the students appealed
their case to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. After the three-judge panel
initially ruled against the students, in a rare move, the Court of Appeals decided
in November of 1999 to throw out their initial decision and rehear the case
in front of the full panel of judges. Student journalists celebrated their victory
this past January when the full appeals court reversed the lower court's decision
and upheld 10-3 the historical and constitutional right of college students
to enjoy free expression on campus. The opinion by the appeals court states
that "...KSU officials' confiscation of the yearbook violates the First Amendment,
and the university has no constitutionally valid reason to withhold distribution
of the 1992-94 Thorobred from KSU students from that era."
KSU officials stood by their
actions throughout the legal fight. "From our perspective, it was merely a matter
of the quality of the work, not the content of the work," explains Bruce Edwards,
Director of Public Relations for KSU. Campus administrators claimed that they
confiscated the yearbook because of a lack in quality; specifically, the administration
was unhappy over the inclusion of a current events section, an unclear dedication
and the yearbook's failure to highlight the school colors of green and yellow.
However, the Court of Appeals
rejected the University's argument that they were only confiscating the book
over style and quality objections. Judge R. Guy Cole, in writing the majority
opinion, called this argument "simply not credible," and called the confiscation
of the yearbooks "among the purest forms of content alteration…We will not sanction
a reading of the First Amendment that permits government officials to censor
expression in a limited public forum in order to coerce speech that pleases
the government."
The University did not appeal
the case further, and agreed in March 2001 to pay $70,000 in damages and legal
fees to the students, as well as release the hundreds of yearbooks that were
confiscated in the early 1990s.
Back to Archive
|