Free high school press
Yet another challenge to freedom of the press
is hounding California.
A high school newspaper in Oakland is battling
against school district officials over what should be published in the
newspaper.
District officials want the Green and Gold
to publish an anti-discrimination disclaimer.
The argument is that the district may lose
funding for not complying with Title IX, a federal statute that requires
all federally funded school to provide equality in education.
The editors and advisors feel that they
should determine what is published in the paper.
Their argument is that unless the material
is libelous, obscene or incites violence, there should be no interference
from administrators.
Freedom of the press is an important issue
to us.
We are able to print what we want, within
legal limits.
The First Amendment is a journalist's best
friend.
It is unfortunate that the U.S. Supreme
Court does not. The Court decided a case in 1988 that gave censorship rights
to high school officials. If the school supports the newspaper financially,
it has the right to determine what goes in the newspaper.
The district must have some other publication
or forum to announce this disclaimer and be in compliance with Title IX.
We wish the Green and Gold luck with this.
Maybe some day we can afford the same constitutional protection to high
schoolers that professional and college journalists enjoy. |
![[opinion]](http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/Icon/opinion.gif){kind=icon}
![[opinion]](http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/Icon/our-view.gif){kind=icon}
![[news]](http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/Icon/news.gif){kind=icon}
![[Sports]](http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/Icon/sports.gif){kind=icon}