One day, but not today

In a bull-headed legal move that could have frightening implications for three Midwestern states, including Indiana, last week the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an important case concerning the free press rights of college journalists. It should have taken up the case and turned this unsettling issue around. \nMore than five years ago, a dean at Governors State University in University Park, Ill., demanded that she or another official be allowed to read the Innovator, the university's student newspaper, prior to its publication and then subsequently approve the content. \nLike any good college newspaper, the Innovator had run stories and editorials critical of the administration. The paper's student editors, like any good editor, found the dean's request rather abrasive and, we're hoping, told her where she could stick her request. The Innovator, however, has not been published since. \nBy refusing to hear the case, the nation's highest court let stand a June 2005 ruling from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. The circuit court's decision expanded the Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier decision, which in 1988 infamously allowed administrators in public elementary and high schools to restrict free press student rights, to cover public colleges and universities as well.\nThe circuit court's ruling now potentially opens the door to providing public university administrators the ammunition to censor school-sponsored speech, such as speeches from students, faculty or student newspapers.\n"The appeals court decision last year turned on its head the traditional belief that a university is a 'marketplace of ideas' where speech from all sides is not only tolerated, but encouraged. We hoped that the Supreme Court would step in to reaffirm that important principle," said Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center. "We are very disappointed that the Court left that issue to be decided another day."\nWe are, too. The ruling will only affect the universities and colleges within the three states of the 7th circuit, but limited speech and press anywhere is a threat to all free speech and press elsewhere. Students at universities and colleges should stand especially vigilant, like the editors of the Innovator. Free speech advocates on campuses should encourage their universities to designate student media outlets as public forums, if they haven't already, where administrators can't meddle. \nWhile not all public university newspapers enjoy the insulation of independence that the Indiana Daily Student does, legal decisions during the last 30 years have normally held college papers to higher standards, more cautiously guarding their free press abilities. By not settling the case, the court has dodged an inky bullet and let stand a troubling decision from the 7th Circuit that runs in blatant contrast to rulings from other circuit courts. \nSome day the issue might, and should, come before the Supreme Court again. Let's hope they'll recognize its significance then and act swiftly to rectify the damage already inflicted.