Since 1988, high school—but not college—administrators have had the right to regulate (and censor) student publications. Last week, without explanation, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from college journalists seeking freedom to run their newspapers without such regulation. Freedom of press advocates fear that some college administrators may view the high court’s decision as a “green light to censor student papers,” reports the First Amendment Center in conjunction with the Associated Press, but Mark Goodman of the Student Press Law Center considers the decision to be most threatening to small campus groups.
“The real fear is that the small student organization who wishes to bring in a controversial speaker or show an unpopular film will be silenced,” said Goodman. “Those student organizations will feel the impact more than the mainstream student media.”