Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Missouri Miner: Budget cut=censorship

The Missouri Miner, the student newspaper at the University of Missouri-Rolla, is threatening to sue the university for violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments, saying budget cuts to the paper constitute illegal censorship.

Editor in Chief Christopher Stryker and former editor in chief and Advertising Director Michele Martin, sent a letter to the university Monday, according to Rolla Daily News today. Accompanying the letter was a legal opinion from the Student Press Law Center, supporting the Miner's argument that the funding cut amounted to censorship.

Read the background on the case from the SPLC.

We'd love to hear more about the case from The Missouri Miner. Please post comments here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rachele, One campus paper in Missouri that is following this case is The Current at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, a sister campus to Rolla in the Missouri system. An additional reason for our interest is that The Current had similar issues with our Student Government in 2003 and 2004, so we have a lot of empathy for The Miner's staff. The link to Monday's story in The Current is here:
http://www.thecurrentonline.com/news/2007/08/27/News/Rollas.Missouri.Miner.May.Pursue.Legal.Action-2938493.shtml?reffeature=textemailedition

Judi Linville
Adviser

Rachele Kanigel said...

Thanks for the comment. Keep us posted. And let us know when The Current has interesting news to share or runs material -- great stories, innovative features, awe-inspiring photos, investigative stories, etc. -- other student newspapers might learn from.