MELISSA GIAIMO
Assistant Perspectives Editor
Student free-press advocates praise new legislation that protects college journalists from censorship by school administrators; however, the new law will have little impact on private schools such as Pepperdine. With the enactment of the “Hosty Law” on Jan. 1, California continues to lead the nation in advancing student press by bolstering the state’s opposition to censorship of college newspapers and challenging a recent federal appeals court decision.
The law directly affects all California colleges in the University of California system, and indirectly affects colleges nationwide as a broad statement of the importance of collegiate journalistic independence.
“California’s journalism students can breathe a sigh of relief,” said Jim Ewert, author of the law and lobbyist for the California Newspapers Publishers Association.
Although the new law grants college newspapers greater freedom, accompanied with that freedom is greater responsibility. “[The law is] not a free pass for student journalists,” Ewert said.
If a libel suit is raised against the newspaper, student journalists, not the university will be held responsible, Ewert explained. Paradoxically, the more control a university exerts over a newspaper, the more liable it is for the content the newspaper prints. Universities arguably benefit more from the new law than college journalists.
“Students are more liable than ever for what they are publishing because the university is not liable,” Ewert said.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the legislation, Assembly Bill 2581, into law in August. This amended Section 66301 of the California Education Code, which prohibits any university official disciplining college journalists for any form of speech on-campus that would be acceptable off-campus.
But The Daily Stanford and UCLA’s The Daily Bruin already enjoy the protection that the new law hopes to extend to public universities. Unlike most university newspapers, they are financially independent completely disassociated from their universities.
“[We are] not at risk for a lot of problems the law is meant to address,” The Daily Bruin Editor in Chief Jeff Schenck said.
Students and educators praise the new law for guaranteeing equal freedom of the press between professional and student journalists.
“I agree with the logic of the law that [student] newspapers should have free reign of any normal newspaper,” Pepperdine media law professor James McGoldrick said.
The law is known as the “Hosty Law” because it responds to the 2005 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Hosty v. Carter to grant a college administrator prior review and approval of a student newspaper.
Although Pepperdine does not benefit from the new legislation, students here are protected by the Leonard Law.
Passed in 1992, the law is virtually identical to the new “Hosty Law,” which prohibits private universities from disciplining students for any speech related activity that would be protected by the first amendment off campus.
Many hope the new law, the first statute of its kind, will encourage other states to enact similar legislation.
“[The law] sends a message that California really supports freedom of the press,” Schenck said.
“I hope the rest of the country follows … [because] there is much work to be done.”
03-01-2007
