CCSU President Jack Miller announced that head coach Shaun Green will be suspended for 60 days without pay, suspended from coaching four games next season, is required to issue a written apology to the Recorder and financially compensate the paper for destroying the copies.

The athletic department will also face a $100,000 penalty and one of Green’s assistant coaches will not return next season.

In a press release, Miller said the university has “built a culture of freedom of expression and freedom of the press and personally defended those freedoms even when the result is criticism of us.”

Outgoing Recorder Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Proch estimated the 150 trashed copies were valued between $400 and $500.

“I'm happy with what they’ve done, and on behalf of my staff I can say that. They did everything that they could do, I'm assuming, inside of the university,” Proch said. “I’m happy that they took it seriously and it wasn't just a slap on the wrist. It was a true sanction, in my opinion.”

Green was caught on a security camera May 3 collecting copies of The Recorder from the student center and placing them in trash cans and recycling bins. Proch, who recently graduated, noticed empty bins after one of his classes that day and contacted police.

According to the Recorder, Green was unhappy with a story that reported the soccer team would be disqualified from the postseason next year because of academic sanctions.

CCSU also announced that assistant coach Paul Wright's contract with the university will not be renewed. Wright was walking along with Green on the security video, but did not actually carry any papers, Proch said.

“I think it was fair and I also think that even though he (Green) is not a representative of the entire athletic department, and I don’t think that other people in the athletic department should be tied into the same image, it was important that they put the athletic department on notice… to at least train or show other coaches in the system or future coaches that this is an important issue and that it shouldn't be taken lightly going down the road,” Proch said.

Proch said he may pursue the matter further and is looking into possible legal action.

By Nikki McGee, SPLC staff writer

On Monday, journalism adviser James Yoakley was asked into Principal Steve Millsaps’ office to discuss the story titled, “It’s OK to be gay,” after a parent wrote an email to the district, Yoakley said.

The student-written story profiles gay student Zac Mitchell, who discusses coming out, bullying, and his family’s donations to gay rights causes and breast cancer research. Mitchell also describes an experience cross-dressing with a friend while in Nashville.

Yoakley said the story was the student editor’s idea. This year’s theme for the book is “In My Element.”

After the yearbooks were distributed Friday, an email began circulating in the community demanding action from school administrators.

“It is time to take a stand for our faith,” the email reads. “We aren’t being called to risk our lives and go before a king like Nehemiah – but our walls are broken down and our gates are burning.”

Van Shaver, a school board member in a neighboring district, wrote on his personal blog that he wants a criminal investigation into the matter.

“If in fact it was Mr. Yoakley or any other teacher who allowed this article to be published in the yearbook, they should be dismissed from the school immediately.”

Shaver also wrote that if Yoakley or any other teacher talked with students about their sexual orientation “prior to those students being of legal age, those teachers should be charged with child sex abuse by an authority figure and arrested.”

Lenoir City Superintendent Wayne Miller declined to comment.

“The editor tried to capture the school from all the different ways and places students fit into the school community,” Yoakley said by email. “She did it quite well. The gay student was just one of many ‘elements’ we covered.”

Yoakley said reaction to the story has been mixed.

A community member against the publication of the article created a Facebook page, “Take A Stand Lenoir City.” The page had 75 “likes” as of Thursday evening. A Facebook group supporting the story, “Take A Stand Against The Ignorance In Lenoir City,” was also created. It had more than 1,100 likes as of Thursday.

The parent email questions whether the yearbook staff would allow Christianity in the book. Yoakley said the book does, and cited content featuring church hangouts, passages from Proverbs, John, Psalms and Philippians that are also present in the yearbook.

Yoakley said his students did a good job, even though he worries about his position as journalism adviser. He said he believes publishing the story was “the right and legal thing to do.”

The same school made headlines in February after administrators refused to allow the student newspaper to print an editorial about atheism and the separation of church and state.

By Emily Summars, SPLC staff writer

Daily Sun Editor-in-Chief Juan Forrer said the April 20 newspaper was the annual April Fools’ edition, dawning a satirical wrap-around cover with fake editorials and fictional stories about Cornell giving breathalyzer tests to students and receiving research money for marijuana. The cover is very clearly a spoof, Forrer said.

Nevertheless, a Cornell employee removed the covers from all of the newspapers in Day Hall before prospective students toured the campus. Forrer said a friend who gives campus tours notified him of the incident.

The April Fools’ edition was printed on April 20 because a former president died over April Fools’ weekend.

“We felt we didn’t want to do our normal joke edition coverage after that because it wouldn’t be the appropriate thing to do in that situation,” Forrer said.

The paper did not file a police report about the theft because the damage was “miniscule,” Forrer said.

Cornell spokeswoman Claudia Wheatley said the incident is regrettable.

“Cornell University recognizes that an independent press is a cornerstone freedom in the U.S. and will work to ensure that employees recognize that as well,” Wheatley wrote in an emailed statement.

Neither Wheatley nor Forrer identified the employee responsible for taking the covers.

Cornell University is a private school, but the Sun is independent and does not receive funding from the university.

Forrer said the cover theft hasn’t impacted the paper and was an isolated incident, but the editorial board wrote an editorial concerning the theft and what it means for press freedom.

“I don’t think Cornell would do something like this again with a normal issue of the paper,” Forrer said. “We just felt like something needed to be said about it and Cornell shouldn’t be able to do anything regarding content.”

By Emily Summars, SPLC staff writer

The Vermont Cynic Editor-in-Chief Brent Summers said there’s only one lead: a person in a hoodie who was caught on camera carrying a stack of papers away from a stand in the student center. The security camera footage was too grainy even to decipher the culprit’s gender, he said.

Student Media Director Chris Evans said police got involved right away, but stopped working the case after 24 hours.

“At this point, it’s not a criminal investigation,” campus police Sgt. Dan Finnegan said.

Because the papers are free, Finnegan said, the disappearance cannot be ruled criminal theft. He said the Cynic is handling the investigation, and if someone were caught, the culprit would be referred to student affairs.

Adam Goldstein, attorney advocate for the Student Press Law Center, said student newspapers do have value and can be stolen, even though there is typically no purchase associated with picking them up.

“The law protects the value in things you make,” Goldstein said, “even if you give them away.”

Summers said the Cynic has instituted a new policy to be included on every copy of the paper, in which the first copy is free, but any additional copies cost 50 cents each. That way, he said, the paper will have a definite price tag on stolen or discarded stacks in the future.

The stolen issue was published April 12. The theft occurred at about 8:10 p.m. on April 13.

Evans said there were no controversial stories in the paper aside from the front-page crime coverage, which included a story on a tennis player who used a stun gun on other players and a story on drunken vandals who caused $50,000 in damage.

While the University of Vermont had campus tours April 16, administrators told the Burlington Free Press that staff members were not involved.

Newspaper bins were left empty in the student center, the library and many other locations. Approximately 5,000 copies are printed weekly.

By Nick Glunt, SPLC staff writer

Media communications chair Marianne Odom filed a police report April 19 about the newspapers being stolen from three buildings on campus. According to The Ranger, the newspapers’ absence from bins in three buildings was first noticed by photo adviser Tricia Buchhorn on April 18 and was confirmed when she found several stacks of papers in a trashcan.

Police Chief Don Adams said an investigator is assigned to the case but there are no suspects. Adams said newspaper thefts at the college are very rare. He’s been with the department for 11 years and can recall only one time newspapers were stolen and thrown away.

The Ranger publishes weekly and has a distribution of 6,000 with 32 distribution boxes. Three reporters restocked the bins later that afternoon, according to The Ranger.

Editor in Chief Joshua Fechter said he’s not sure why the papers were stolen. The April 16 edition included information for new student orientation and stories meant to help incoming students navigate the college.

Fechter said there was nothing in the print edition that would prompt a theft. However, a recent online story received criticism from students and faculty. Speech Professor John Skinner died after suffering a heart attack in his office. Fechter said the newspaper published a story and accompanying photo of Skinner on a gurney near an ambulance.

The photo and story received several critical comments.

“We do consider this a form of censorship,” Fechter said. “We fight hard every day to provide accurate information and we don’t take this lightly.”

Fechter said students, faculty and staff on campus regularly interact with the newspaper, writing letters to the editor.

Fechter said if the culprits wanted to hurt the newspaper, they failed. Who they really hurt was the community, Fechter said.

“We provide information to the entire community,” Fechter said. “Whoever stole those papers withheld information from the community and that’s a serious offense.”

By Emily Summars, SPLC staff writer

President Dana Mohler-Faria and two other administrators met Wednesday with The Comment Editor-in-Chief Mary Polleys and adviser Dave Copeland to discuss recent articles that Mohler-Faria found damaging to the university, Polleys said.

Polleys said Mohler-Faria was unhappy with the paper’s recent coverage of a sexual assault awareness event on campus and a column on student fees. The Comment received heavy criticism over its coverage of the “Take Back the Night” event, in which the paper identified a rape victim who spoke to the 200-person crowd about her experience.

The column questioned the need to raise student fees to make up for a budget shortfall.

Polleys claims Mohler-Faria threatened to shut down the paper and to bar faculty and staff from speaking with its reporters.

At the end of the meeting, Mohler-Faria asked to speak with Copeland alone. Polleys said Mohler-Faria then announced a policy change that would prevent part-time faculty from advising student organizations.

The Comment is the only student organization with a part-time faculty member as its adviser, Polley said.

According to The Patriot Ledger, university spokesman Bryan Baldwin said Copeland “indicated his intention to step down” during the private meeting.

Polleys denied that claim, though Copeland himself declined to comment. Baldwin did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment.

Editors believe at least 300 copies of The Comment were stolen from stands Wednesday. News Editor Kate Wallace said the suspected theft was reported to campus police, and that several students had bragged on Facebook about dumping copies in the trash.

The Comment reported Thursday that the policy change would go before the board of trustees Friday. However, the university’s website showed no evidence of a scheduled board meeting and Polleys said Friday evening she was unsure whether any meeting took place.

Student Press Law Center Executive Director Frank LoMonte wrote a letter Thursday to Mohler-Faria in which he sharply denounced the alleged actions taken by the BSU administration.

“To be clear,” LoMonte wrote, “if the board of trustees enacts a regulation with the purpose and effect of disqualifying Mr. Copeland form his adviser position, it is an inevitability that Bridgewater State University, its trustees and you personally will be sued for violating the First Amendment and that you will lose. It would be self-destructive and pointless to pursue such a course.”

By Nick Glunt, SPLC staff writer

In testimony regarding the regulation of online “bullying” speech, the Student Press Law Center urged Delaware policymakers Friday to affirmatively protect students’ rights to discuss matters of public concern, and to develop preventive education-based solutions based on journalistic values and ethics.

“Online incivility is a genuine and serious societal problem – one that afflicts all age groups, not just schoolchildren – and it requires a societal response much more sophisticated than ‘lock ‘em up and throw away the key,’” SPLC Executive Director Frank D. LoMonte said in written testimony submitted Friday to Delaware Lt. Gov. Matthew Denn and Attorney General Beau Biden. “Empowering principals to muzzle student whistleblowers who wish to call public attention to the shortcomings of schools will be affirmatively counterproductive to the goal of school safety.”

Denn and Biden completed a series of statewide hearings this week to gather public input about “cyberbullying” as part of formulating a state-level response to complaints about students’ hurtful speech on social networking sites. LoMonte testified Wednesday at the last of the hearings at the Kent County Courthouse in Dover. 

In his written remarks, LoMonte urged the lieutenant governor and attorney general to fashion a statewide policy that gives heightened protection to students’ off-campus speech, because students so frequently are censored on campus when they attempt to question school policies or voice an opinion about their schools’ shortcomings.

“It is one thing to say that school administrators may exercise broad authority over speech that students intentionally direct at a captive audience of in-school listeners during the school day. It is quite another thing to say that administrators have equal control over everything that a student says or does that might impact the school,” LoMonte said.

The Student Press Law Center (SPLC) is a Washington, D.C.-area non-profit whose mission is to advocate for free-press rights for high school and college journalists. It also provides legal information and attorney referral assistance at no charge to students and the educators who work with them. 

The SPLC has appeared as a friend-of-the-court in support of disciplined student speakers in many court cases in the federal Third Circuit, which includes Delaware. Among them are Layshock v. Hermitage School District and J.S. v. Blue Mountain School District, in which the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided in 2011 that students could not be punished for speech created off-campus and posted on the MySpace social networking site that ridiculed their school principals.

On Thursday, the Delaware Senate passed and sent to the House SB 193 by Sen. David P. Sokola, D-Newark. The bill requires every public school district to enact a cyberbullying policy implementing the statewide policy that the Delaware Department of Education will release based on Benn’s and Biden’s recommendations. It also provides that Biden’s office, the Delaware Department of Justice, will offer legal representation to any school district that is sued because of its use of the state cyberbullying guidelines.

LoMonte said Delaware has the chance to avoid the mistakes made by other states that hastily imposed new punitive responses to cyberbullying in the emotional aftermath of highly publicized student suicides. Because punishment for unkind remarks runs such a high risk of “false positive” discipline for innocent speech, LoMonte said Delaware should instead focus on a preventive approach that teaches “best practices” in digital citizenship.

“Every school should offer as a foundational part of its core curriculum a course in the consumption (‘news literacy’) and creation of media,” LoMonte said. “Making good online citizenship a routine part of the school day is far more impactful than summoning students to an assembly to be finger-wagged about cyberbullying, which is guaranteed to shut off the ‘attention’ switch.”

-30-

According to The Pioneer, Lab Director Ronna Austin identified Tori Parks, 24, and Michelle Caraway, 25, on recordings dumping at least 200 student newspapers from stands Monday, shortly after Austin refused to remove a story about the two women from the paper’s website.

Austin is a college staff member who monitors workflow in the newsroom. She addressed Parks and Caraway’s concerns because Editor-in-Chief Jeremy Cloud was unavailable.

Austin filed a police report Monday, but college spokesman Cordell Jordan said campus police will not be pursuing any criminal charges because of a lack of personnel. Since the newspapers are free and the ones taken were almost two weeks old at the time, he said it would be unwise to have the college’s small police department investigate the matter.

The Pioneer will not be pursuing legal action but may take the matter to student affairs, Austin said. Jordan said police consulted with the district attorney and have decided not to pursue the case; the district attorney’s office had no record of a consultation and could not comment.

Newspaper staffer Joey Stipek said Parks and Caraway were concerned their names had been published and that they would lose their jobs because of the article.

Parks and Caraway did not respond to attempts to contact them.

The April 13 issue carried a story about a domestic dispute between Parks and her husband. Parks had been staying with Caraway for two weeks at the time.

According to a Pioneer story about the newspaper dump, Austin said she offered to change the story if it was factually inaccurate, but both women declined.

By Nick Glunt, SPLC staff writer

CORRECTION 4/27: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported the newspaper had decided not to take theft to student affairs, due to source error. Austin said the newspaper has not yet made a decision.

The three 14 year-old girls had a conversation in the “comments” section on one of their profiles using their personal computers after school.

According to the complaint, “the conversation spanned numerous subjects, from the pain of cutting oneself while shaving to the girls’ friendship, before turning to a discussion of which of their classmates they would kill if they had the chance.”

The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, states that the three eighth graders used emoticons and abbreviations like LOL to suggest humor, indicating the conversation was not to be taken seriously.

On Jan. 26 the girls were suspended for ten days before being expelled Feb. 10 from Griffith Middle School.

“The girls were simply engaged in teenage banter,” the complaint states.

The mother of one of the girls’ classmates complained to Edward Skaggs, the principal of Griffith Middle School, and provided a copy of the conversation to him, according to the complaint.

The girls were expelled for violating the district’s bullying, harassment and intimidation policy, according to the complaint. They will be allowed to enter high school in August.

The district’s policy states that, “Bullying is defined as a deliberately aggressive of hurtful behavior toward another person that is repeated over time.” The policy mentions bullying pertaining to off-campus activities “that cause or threaten to cause a substantial disruption at school.”

Griffith School District attorney Rhett Tauber could not be reached for comment.

Gavin Rose, staff attorney with the ACLU of Indiana and the girls’ attorney, said the First Amendment trumps the student handbook.

“I think that under the right circumstances schools can discipline students if their speech constitutes a true threat, that is, if a reasonable person looking at this conversation would think that these girls are inflicting imminent harm against someone,” Rose said. “Or else, they can discipline someone under the Tinker standard if they think the speech is of a variety that is likely to substantially disrupt the educational environment,” Rose said. “I think this, while there might be gray areas on those issues, I think this is one of those places that falls squarely on the First Amendment.”

Rose said the conversation occurred on a Tuesday afternoon. The girls attended school on Wednesday and nothing out of the ordinary happened. On Thursday the girls were called into the principal’s office separately, receiving 10-day suspensions with recommendation for expulsion.

“We are seeking compensation for their emotional harm,” Rose said. “Obviously, this is not something any eighth grader wants to happen and it has caused some harm. One of the girls was forced to pay out of pocket for a home school program.”

The girls are seeking money damages and a declaration that their rights were violated, and they want the discipline expunged from their records.

By Emily Summars, SPLC staff writer

Paul Isom, who advised the East Carolinian newspaper and the Rebel literary magazine, will not return to his position at ECU, but will receive six months of his salary and health insurance costs. As of Friday, he is listed as having resigned so that a termination will not appear in his employment history.

“I’m glad we were able to come to some sort of settlement and move forward,” Isom said.

ECU spokeswoman Mary Schulken said the university pursued a termination because of a “difference in philosophy,” not because of the streaker photograph. She declined to explain the philosophical differences, referring the question to Isom.

When contacted, Isom said he felt uncomfortable answering the question due to the terms of the settlement, instead referring the question to his lawyer, John Hoomani, who then referred the question back to the university.

According to the agreement, parties of the settlement were advised to respond to media inquiries “by stating that the matter has been amicably resolved on terms agreeable to both sides.”

Schulken said Isom’s replacement, who has not yet been selected, will take student media in a “new direction.” She explained the university intended to hire someone to directly and solely advise the East Carolinian so as to give it more attention, and the new adviser will be required to focus more on Web journalism.

Isom said he was already focusing heavily on Web initiatives, explaining that student media was behind the times when he first arrived in 2008. He said student media’s social media presence soared while he was director.

Isom declined to comment whether he thought the university was reacting directly to the streaker photo, though he said he believed he was fired for that reason in an earlier interview with the Student Press Law Center.

The East Carolinian published the photo Nov. 8 after a man streaked onto the football field during a home game. The decision to publish, which was made solely by the editorial staff, was met with outcry from university administrators.

Isom was terminated Jan. 4, and the university appointed Frank Barrows, an experienced newspaper editor, as interim student media director in late January.

When asked if Isom had performed unsatisfactorily prior to the photo’s publication, Schulken said, “This was about a difference in philosophy and a difference in our expectations.”

By Nick Glunt, SPLC staff writer

The jury found that the Millard County School District acted reasonably in 2008 when it suspended Dan and Nick Kuhr for wearing bracelets and T-shirts with the phrase, “Julius RIP.” In the case of Cassie Kuhr, the jury was hung, unable to reach a verdict.

The Kuhrs wore items in remembrance of their friend Julius Robinson after he was shot in front of an apartment complex the previous summer. It is believed that his death was the result of gang-related violence. To help the Robinson family raise money for the funeral, the Kuhrs made T-shirts and bracelets with his name and football jersey number.

Administrators were concerned the attire was gang-related and might cause disruption or violence at school. As a result, the Kuhrs and 26 other students were suspended for wearing the T-shirts and bracelets.

The Kuhrs sued, claiming the ban violated their First Amendment rights. A judge allowed the case to go to a jury to decide whether, under the landmark Tinker standard, school officials reasonably feared the clothing would substantially disrupt school.

Brian Jorde, attorney for the Kuhrs, said he’s not sure why the jury came to different conclusions as to the three students.

“They expressed themselves by wearing different items and different combinations on different days,” Jorde said. “One day she (Cassie) wore a bracelet with his first name written on her hand, perhaps that’s what they were caught on.”

Jorde said he will ask for a new trial in Cassie Kuhr’s case, since the jury did not find in favor of either party. He may also appeal the decision as to Dan and Nick Kuhr.

“We’ll analyze the case but the next step would be to appeal the verdict and then file the motion for a new trial,” Jorde said. “If the judge grants it then obviously we’ll go forward with this.”

Jeff Miller, one of the school district’s attorneys, said the school had reasonable information that the shirts would lead to substantial disruption, and were possibly representative of gang-related violence.

“In this case the defense argued safety and the placement of gang ties to the expression,” Jorde said. “It played on the fears of the jurors. We appreciate the jury really struggled with this and deliberated for more than eight hours. We’re eager to follow through to the next step.”

Both Dan and Cassidy have graduated and Nick is no longer attending school in the district.

By Emily Summars, SPLC staff writer

WVU police Chief Bob Roberts said police have no leads, but have reached out to the community for any witnesses or tips on the theft. If a student came forward, Roberts said the police would likely refer them to student affairs; otherwise, the police will pursue criminal charges.

The Daily Athenaeum Managing Editor John Terry said thousands of copies were missing from stands by midmorning, and that one of the Athenaeum staffers saw someone load an entire bin’s stack of papers into a car.

Terry said the paper ran several controversial stories in the Tuesday issue. One detailed a student’s death after falling from an apartment building window, and the paper also ran an editorial endorsing one of the student government parties. There were at least two other controversial stories as well.

Neither he nor Roberts were willing to speculate on the culprit, but Terry said the sheer scale of the incident suggested there were several thieves, not one acting alone.

Athenaeum Director Alan Waters said the issue cost a little over $1,000 to print 12,000 copies, including color and an insert page. Terry and Waters could not be certain how many papers were taken, just that it was a significant portion.

The papers have not been found, Roberts said. The papers were stolen between 4 and 6 a.m., but security cameras did not catch any suspects in the act. According to a police press release, five buildings were hit.

“This deprives other people of information,” Roberts said. “There is freedom of the press, and if people are going to steal them, there is no freedom of the press.”

By Nick Glunt, SPLC staff writer

Two 16-year-old students were hospitalized after the January crash, which is listed as a DUI in a police report, according to the local Clarion newspaper. The wreck became the center of student attention, said journalism adviser Pilar Pedraza, who obtained a copy of the report for the student newspaper.

The Arrowhead staff met to discuss the implications of mentioning alcohol in their story about the crash. Pedraza discussed ethics, morals and Kansas’ student expression law with the students before their meeting. She then left the room to let the newspaper staff discuss the issue, and to tell Principal Stanley May about the publication of the article.

Student reporter Kayla Albert told The Clarion that after Pedraza met with May, he called the students into his office.

“He wanted us to have it take a different direction and not include the alcohol and everything, but he wanted it to be more about safe driving and everything,” Albert told The Clarion. “And so in our decision that we made, we figured it would be in everybody’s best interest to write about safe driving and not include the alcohol because of the fact that we didn’t know what the reaction would be from all the students and parents and teachers and everything.”

Pedraza said May asked her to rewrite the story before meeting with students. Pedraza said she would not violate the law and that May was engaging in prior restraint.

Kansas is one of seven states with laws that specifically prohibit censorship of student publications, unless the content is illegal or would substantially disrupt school.

Student Press Law Center Executive Director Frank LoMonte said the principal doesn’t get to decide what is and isn’t to be published.

“It’s fine for the principal to give an opinion, if it’s clear it’s just advice,” LoMonte said. “If the advice comes across as an order, then it violates Kansas law.”

Pedraza said she resigned from her teaching position and adviser of The Arrowhead in protest, “so that these kids would know somebody is wiling to stand up for their rights.” Pedraza’s resignation was accepted at the Renwick USD 267 Board of Education’s February meeting.

“It came down to they [school administrators] wanted me to pull the story because they didn’t like some of the information that was in it,” Pedraza said. “I refused. I am confident that I know – having been a journalist and having studied media law – there was no legal power to censor the story.”

LoMonte said May doesn’t get to substitute his own ethics and morals for state law.

“He doesn’t get to override legislation just because he doesn’t think a story is a good idea,” LoMonte said. “What the principal did is take a truthful news story and make it incomplete and deceptive. That’s the opposite of teaching good principles.”

May said the police report should not be published in a student newspaper because of individual students’ rights. Instead, he wanted the article to focus on safe driving on gravel roads – which is what ultimately ran in the newspaper.

“I didn’t want what was in the police report, something that happened outside of school, to be published in a school newspaper without the consent of parents,” May said. “The students came in and told me they were changing the story to make it positive for everybody in the school.”

May said he reviewed the article before it went to press but did not change anything.

“For me, the law can figure out who’s legal and who’s not, but morally and ethically, we need to do what’s best for kids,” May said. “I don’t think we need to be publishing that [the police report] in the school newspaper. It’s going to cause a substantial disruption for those two students plus we have some student rights to look out for.”

Students on the newspaper staff could not be reached for comment after multiple attempts.

Pedraza said the police report provided insight and facts for student reporter Albert. As a journalist, Pedraza said, students need to rely on factual reports rather than school rumors.

“To me the First Amendment is something that is vitally important to the future of this country and I see it all over the place being eroded,” Pedraza said. “I think it was MLK who said, ‘All it takes for injustice to survive anywhere is for one man to stay silent.’ In this case, I couldn’t stay silent.”

By Emily Summars, SPLC staff writer

MU staff attorney Kate Markie said the university is recalling its previous letters summoning Abby Spudich, former managing editor, and Travis Cornejo, former editor in chief, to a preliminary meeting. Markie said the students were being notified via new letters sent Thursday afternoon, but declined to comment further.

Spudich and Cornejo resigned Tuesday and Wednesday respectively after backlash from students, faculty and staff over the issue — called The Carpeteater — which was intended to be humorous.

“I’m relieved that I can move past that chapter of this whole April Fools’ ordeal,” Cornejo said. “I can focus on resolving all the other matters regarding the April Fools’ issue.”

Cornejo is graduating in December. He had not yet received the letter, but said he was worried the controversy would follow him into the future.

“Any time you receive an official notice from the university, of course you take it seriously,” he said. “Of course I had concerns about the possible outcomes.”

Marsha Fischer, Spudich’s attorney, said the general counsel’s office advised her earlier in the day that the university was withdrawing the summons.

“I’m pleased that we can get this situation over this,” Fischer said, adding that she did not think Spudich would require her assistance any further.

Earlier Thursday, Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, sent a letter calling on MU to rethink its decision to pursue punishment.

“While undoubtedly offensive to some readers,” LoMonte wrote, “the content of the parody newspaper indisputably was within the boundaries of the First Amendment.”

LoMonte explained that under the standard set by Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District, universities can only censor student journalists based on content in very rare situations, such as if content incites unlawful activity.

“Nothing in The Maneater parody edition even remotely approaches the Tinker

threshold,” LoMonte wrote. “Accordingly, punishment of the speech will not withstand constitutional scrutiny.”

Spudich oversaw production of the issue, with Cornejo taking a backseat, as is tradition regarding the April Fool’s edition of the paper. The new editorial board wrote in a statement of apology that the paper was originally to be called The Humaneater, but was changed somewhere along the way.

The Maneater has already canceled plans for the 2013 April Fools’ edition.

By Nick Glunt, SPLC staff writer

“The Captain’s Log is free to write anything it pleases, and CNU fully respects the freedom of the press,” President Paul Trible wrote. “The university expressly condemns this conduct, and these actions do not reflect the custom, policy or practice of the university.”

Trible’s statement followed an email sent to him Sunday by Captain’s Log Editor-in-Chief Emily Cole.

“I’m sure you will agree that whatever small reputational harm CNU might suffer if visitors learn of the existence of drug crime on campus,” Cole wrote, “that pales before the severe reputational damage of a university that actively conceals crime from its prospective students and parents.”

The day the papers were stolen, The Captain’s Log ran a front-page story about the bust of a dorm room meth lab on campus. Trible wrote in his email that “young employees” who were “acting on their own initiative” hid the papers because they thought the article “would create a bad impression for visiting prospective students.”

Cole, who said she spoke with the employees responsible, also said the staffers were acting under orders from a higher-level university official. Cole said she still does not know who that official was, and university spokesman Bruce Bronstein said the university could not reveal any of the names of those involved because they are protected by state law.

Bronstein said the university intends to discipline the employees, but declined to elaborate. According to Trible’s email, “they will be disciplined in accordance with university procedures.”

The Captain’s Log, a weekly newspaper, does not intend to pursue legal action, but published an editorial and story about the situation Wednesday.

Cole said the papers were taken from stands shortly after delivery April 4. According to Cole’s editorial, Captain’s Log Lifestyle Editor Natalie Shapiro said she saw a staff member from the admissions office carrying stacks of papers into David Student Union. Stacks were missing from the student union and three other high-traffic buildings on campus.

Cole said she approached the staffer that afternoon, and that he told her he was acting under orders from an administrator. She questioned Dean of Admissions Robert Lange, who said he did not know about the order, but that he would solve the problem.

Within 10 minutes, the papers were returned to stands, Cole said. The papers were missing from about 9 a.m. until about 2 p.m. According to the CNU website, the university gives tours to transfer students at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Wednesdays.

Cole said the admissions employee was apologetic and explained that he was just doing what he was told.

“Such dishonesty in the service of ‘image control,’” Cole wrote in her email to Trible, “has no place on a campus that should pride itself on the free exchange of ideas.”

By Nick Glunt, SPLC staff writer

“Federal courts extend broad protection to student media,” Rutgers President Richard McCormick wrote in a statement. “However, a recent article in The Medium, purporting to be written by student Aaron Marcus and using Mr. Marcus' photograph, is extremely offensive and repugnant. No individual student should be subject to such a vicious, provocative and hurtful piece, regardless of whether First Amendment protections apply to such expression.”

Every year, The Medium publishes an April Fools’ issue where it takes on the appearance of The Daily Targum, a traditional student newspaper. Like every year, The Medium impersonates a Targum columnist — this year, it was Aaron Marcus, an outspoken Jew with pro-Isreali and conservative views.

The Medium’s editorial copied the style of Marcus’ regular column in The Daily Targum, titled “Marcus My Words.” The column printed in The Medium states Hitler should be thanked for his genocide because it “inspired” the survivors to “move to Palestine and establish it as the homeland of the Jewish People,” among other outlandish statements. Marcus did not write the column.

Marcus, a junior, filed a “bias complaint” with the university Thursday, the day after The Medium’s April Fools’ issue.

Rutgers spokesman E.J. Miranda said through email that the university is investigating the event as a bias incident. The event will only warrant discipline if it violates laws or portions of the student conduct code. Instead, it may prompt “discussion or education” on how such events affect students, faculty and staff.

Miranda forwarded information found on the webpage for Rutgers’ Bias Prevention & Education Committee. According to a flyer on the webpage, BPEC is designed to “stop hate,” advising students and faculty, “There is no such thing as ‘free’ speech. All speech has costs and consequences.”

The Medium was also targeted by McCormick in 2004 for a cartoon satirizing the Holocaust. According to a 2004 press release, McCormick met with The Medium editors to discuss “the responsibilities of editorial judgment that must accompany the defense of First Amendment rights.”

Medium Editor-in-Chief Amy DiMaria submitted to the Targum a letter to the editor, in which she justifies the Medium’s decision, explaining it was not meant to be anti-Semitic. Instead, it was meant to parody Marcus, who the paper deemed to be a public figure.

“Through research of Aaron’s work,” DiMaria wrote, “a Medium writer was able to accurately mimic Aaron’s writing style, from his tendency to have straightforward, provoking titles in his column to the casual, approachable style of writing he prefers to use. The writer also intended the use of provoking subject matter to parody Marcus’ continued use of subjects many University students do not find popular.”

In May 2011, Marcus appeared on Glenn Beck, where he said he has been threatened with violence and legal action for his views.

In another YouTube video, Marcus claims he uses the column to “monitor the anti-Israel movement on campus.” He said he feels his right to free speech was harmed when a professor encouraged students to speak out against him.

Medium faculty adviser Ron Miskoff said he’s not concerned legally for The Medium because Marcus’ high-profile activism places him in a public light and because of the paper’s 20-year run as satire.

“It’s well-known that this is a parody satire issue, week after week, and it even states it in the masthead,” Miskoff said. “So it’s pretty clear to everyone on campus.”

Like most college newspapers, Miskoff, as the adviser, does not see the paper before it is published. He has been approached by the editors for advice on controversial issues or potential legal problems before publishing, but this was not one of those times.

Miskoff also said he doesn’t see the university being anti-Jew; in fact, he said the Jewish presence and influence has grown on campus in recent years, including the construction of a Chabad house and the growth of many Jewish student organizations.

Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, said he doesn’t think The Medium is legally in trouble. The entire paper was satirical — including an ad for “Victor’s Secret” with scantily clad, buff men and several poorly doctored photos.

However, LoMonte added that the paper might be pushing the boundaries too far, even if it isn’t breaking the law.

“Even though they’re probably safe,” he said, “Holocaust jokes are just never funny.”

By Nick Glunt, SPLC staff writer

The case involves middle school students in the Easton Area School District who wore bracelets with the “I (Heart) Boobies” phrase despite a school ban. The students claim they were promoting breast cancer awareness; school officials argue the phrase is an inappropriate double-entendre.

A federal judge last year sided with the students, ruling the ban violated their First Amendment rights. A three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday heard the school’s appeal in the case.

It appeared all but certain the dispute would turn on whether the bracelets are “lewd” or “vulgar” within the meaning of a 1986 Supreme Court decision. In that case, Bethel School District v. Fraser, the high court upheld discipline imposed on a Washington high school student who gave a class speech full of sexual innuendo.

Attorney John Freund, representing the school district, argued that even if the bracelets are not lewd, they can banned as “disruptive” under the Supreme Court’s Tinker standard. At least two of the judges seemed skeptical.

“If you’re going to win here, it has to be Fraser not Tinker,” Judge Thomas Hardiman said, citing the Third Circuit’s 2011 decision that a parody MySpace profile mocking a school principal did not cause sufficient “disruption” to be punishable under Tinker, the Supreme Court’s landmark case on student First Amendment rights.

Both sides appeared to agree that context matters. Freund emphasized the bracelet must be understood in the context of the entire phrase – not just a single word.

“We’re not here to demonize the word ‘boobies,’” Freund said.

ACLU attorney Mary Catherine Roper, representing the students and their parents, said the bracelets must be analyzed in the context of the national breast cancer awareness campaign. The bracelets also included the name of the foundation that produces them, “Keep A Breast,” and the group’s website address.

“Fraser simply cannot be the only student speech context in which context doesn’t matter,” Roper said.

The lawyers spent much of the argument debating the importance of the students’ intent. Roper argued that the students intended the bracelets to promote awareness, not to make a lewd statement. Freund countered that intent doesn’t matter under recent precedent – the key, he said, is the “reasonable perception” of the speech.

Hardiman appeared to agree, pressing Roper to read aloud the parts of the Fraser opinion that support her position.

“I don’t understand how the intent of the speaker is relevant in light of Fraser,” he said. The judges also seemed to struggle with whether a whole range of slogans would have to be permitted if they rule for the students.

Judge Joseph Greenaway asked about a testicular cancer bracelet with the phrases “I Heart Penis” or “Feel My Testicles.” Roper conceded that the latter could probably be prohibited at school.

Freund said the lower court “completely and utterly failed” to provide enough deference to school administrators, calling the middle school context a “witch’s brew” of testosterone that officials must have the authority to control.

Judge Morton Ira Greenberg, skeptical of Freund’s suggestion that every school would need a constitutional magistrate, suggested the case would be different in a high school or college setting.

The Easton case is one of several lawsuits over the Keep A Breast bracelets in recent months. A Wisconsin judge declared the bracelets lewd and upheld a similar ban by a school in that state. The student dropped the suit in March. A third case is pending in Indiana.

The cases will help define the limits of school officials’ authority to punish speech they consider lewd or inappropriate.

“We cannot define the First Amendment by the point at which a 13-year-old boy giggles,” Roper said.

It will likely be several months before the appeals court rules.

By Brian Schraum, SPLC staff writer

Collegian Editor-in-Chief Hayleigh Colombo said the paper printed 2,600 copies this week, and the total loss from the theft — including printing, wages and advertising — was $653.31.

Colombo said the most controversial story in the paper was on the campus’ Phi Kappa Psi chapter, which is being investigated for an alleged assault. University spokesman Marc Allan, however, said the issue had at least three other controversial stories.

Allan said the issue featured stories on core curriculum funding, students wait-listed for housing and an editorial on Trayvon Martin. Because there were so many potentially upsetting stories, he said no one can be certain which one sparked the dumping.

Collegian staff members were alerted to suspiciously empty racks Thursday. Upon investigation, Colombo said, they found newspapers in trash cans.

The Collegian filed a police report Thursday.

Detective Bruce Allee said police have no leads. There are no security cameras in that area, and he said searching for fingerprints would be pointless because of the high traffic on campus.

“We take it seriously,” Allee added. “We just don’t have much to go on.”

Allee said he is “99 percent sure” it was a student. If the culprit were found, he said, the thief would be referred to the university’s student disciplinary system.

Members of Phi Kappa Psi could not be reached for comment.

Student Press Law Center Attorney Advocate Adam Goldstein said the idea of throwing away papers to conceal a story is fundamentally misguided.

“By trying to stop people from seeing the story,” he said, “you’re getting more people to see it. If not for your actions, we wouldn’t even know about, so we certainly wouldn’t be writing about it.”

By Nick Glunt, SPLC staff writer

Maverick Couch was threatened with suspension in April 2011 for wearing a T-shirt with the statement and a rainbow-colored Ichthys symbol, also known as the Jesus fish. The district claims the shirt is “indecent and inappropriate.”

Couch wore the shirt to support the Day of Silence in April 2011, according to the complaint. The Day of Silence is a student-led event to raise awareness about bullying and harassment of LGBT students. Students involved usually take a vow of silence for the day.

According to the lawsuit, Principal Randy Gephardt twice told Couch to remove the shirt or turn it inside out.

Couch is represented by Christopher Clark of Lambda Legal, an LGBT rights organization. In January, Clark sent a letter to the district arguing that the shirt ban violates Couch’s First Amendment rights. The school district’s attorney, William Deters, responded in a Feb. 24 letter.

“[T]he message communicated by the student’s T-shirt was sexual in nature and therefore indecent and inappropriate in a school setting,” Deters wrote in the letter. “Wayne Local School District Board of Education had the right to limit clothing with sexual slogans, especially in light what was then a highly charged atmosphere, in order to protect its students and enhance the educational environment.”

After Couch filed suit Tuesday, the district agreed to let him wear his shirt on April 20 for the 2012 Day of Silence — but only on that day.

Deters did not respond to requests for comment. Clark could not be reached for comment, but in a Lambda Legal press release late Wednesday he said the lawsuit would continue.

“We're glad that Maverick is able to wear his shirt on April 20,” Clark said in the release. “However, a student’s First Amendment rights are not restricted to one day of the year — we will continue to fight until Maverick is allowed to express who he is on any day he chooses.”

According to court documents, Couch claims Gephardt’s reasons for prohibiting the shirt changed. At first he said it was disruptive, but at a later meeting he allegedly said it was religious and that “religion and state have to be separate.”

Couch is seeking nominal damages, a declaration that the district violated his rights and a court order allowing him to wear the T-shirt as he pleases.

By Emily Summars, SPLC staff writer

Executive Editor Jennifer Ellis said she saw newspapers in a stand when she got to work, but not when she left on March 13.

“The rack was completely empty, which is odd because those 300 papers usually last a week,” Ellis said.

That evening, Ellis filed a police report with UALR’s Department of Public Safety regarding more than 200 stolen papers, which she found neatly stacked in a nearby trash can.

“The next day I came back and looked at other newsstands and every stand was empty,” Ellis said. “Between those two days at least 1,000 newspapers were taken.”

Ellis called the public safety department again March 14 to report the additional thefts.

The Forum publishes every two weeks with a circulation of 2,500. After Ellis discovered the papers missing, she placed 50 additional newspapers in each of the empty bins. When she walked back later in the day, the papers were gone again, Ellis said.

A spokeswoman for the university, Angela Parker, said the Department of Public Safety is investigating but there are no suspects.

A front-page story in the paper focused on the oldest Greek fraternity at UALR’s campus. The fraternity, Kappa Sigma, reported more than $3,000 stolen from its bank account, according to The Forum. One week later, the university received a hazing complaint about the same fraternity.

Benjamin Williams, student representative for the UALR chapter of Kappa Sigma, declined to comment on the newspaper thefts.

Ellis said that story was the only controversial topic in the newspaper.

“I’m not accusing anyone of anything, but I suspect that’s the reason [the papers were stolen],” Ellis said. “We find this whole situation very odd. Normally our campus is quiet and this isn’t anything we expected from our campus… It’s really disrespectful.”

Ellis has not received news concerning the investigation but said she hopes the culprits are caught soon, or at least understand the impact of their actions. Ellis said each paper costs $1.25 to produce.

By Emily Summars, SPLC staff writer

The ruling of the state’s highest court – which has seen four of its seven justices recuse themselves due to connections to the university – will set important precedent on a public university’s ability to discipline students for off-campus speech about school activity.

Amanda Tatro, a former student in the mortuary sciences department at the University of Minnesota, posted comments to her Facebook wall in November and December 2009 about “playing” with a cadaver in her anatomy course and wanting “to stab a certain someone in the throat with a trocar,” a needle-like embalming tool, according to court documents. (The full comments can be viewed in the lower court ruling).

During the first round of oral arguments, Jordan Kushner, Tatro’s attorney, focused on proving that Tatro’s speech did not constitute a “true threat” and that the student speech standards set in Tinker v. Des Moines and Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier should not be applied to adult students at a public university.

On Monday, Kushner spent more time attacking the university’s interests in the case.

Kushner argued that the court must apply “strict scrutiny” when judging the university’s punishment of Tatro. He argued that the university could not meet its obligation to show a compelling interest for the punishment under that standard. Kushner conceded that compelling interests could exist, such as protecting the privacy of cadaver donors. However, he argued that the university’s interest in protecting the trust of donors of cadavers did not amount to a compelling interest.

Justice Helen Meyer, acting as chief justice, pushed Kushner on this issue.

“Who decides whether it’s a compelling interest?” she asked. “Now we’re moving into that area in which courts give discretion to academic environments.”

Kushner said that such discretion could be afforded a university on issues like grading student performance in a classroom setting, but not when it comes to comments a student makes on Facebook in her private time.

Mark Rotenberg, representing the University of Minnesota, argued that the university did not have to show a compelling interest. Rather, the university’s interest in training professionals, backed by the Hazelwood standard, should suffice. Rotenberg cited three federal appellate court decisions—Axson-Flynn v. Johnson, Ward v. Polite, and Keeton v. Anderson-Wiley—in which the Hazelwood “legitimate pedagogical concerns” standard was applied to a university setting. He added that under Hazelwood “the on-campus off-campus distinction is a red herring.”

Meyer posed to Rotenberg a variation of the question she asked Kushner.

“To put everything in this black box called legitimate pedagogical concern… what are we going to put in that box?” Meyer asked. “We have to be very careful about tying this to a legitimate or well-established professional standard that the university hasn’t itself announced.”

Justice Barry Anderson, in an echo of one of his questions during the first round of arguments, expressed his concern over the trend of public universities creating speech codes and asked if upholding the University of Minnesota’s actions would lead other universities down a slippery slope.

Rotenberg responded that a speech code and a code of professional conduct are two different things.

“There is no institution in the state of Minnesota that protects a more robust marketplace of ideas than the University of Minnesota,” he said.

In his rebuttal, Kushner argued that the university’s rules established in its code of professional conduct were both vague and overbroad.

Amy Kristin Sanders, assistant professor of mass communication law at the University of Minnesota, sees Kushner’s appeal to strict scrutiny as good strategy.

“If the Court applies strict scrutiny, then I can’t see the university’s actions meeting the test,” Sanders said, adding that the court likely would opt for strict scrutiny over the broader and less onerous standard of rational basis scrutiny, which the university is calling for.

Tatro attended the arguments, though she declined to comment after the court adjourned.

Retired Justice Esther Tomljanovich, who served on the state’s high court from 1990 to 1998, replaced Justice Paul Anderson, who recused himself in late February. Judge Gary Schurrer of Washington County again heard the case by designation.

By Brett Johnson, special contributor

Johnson is a doctoral student studying mass communication law at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication. His research interests include comparative study of international speech and press freedoms.