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Texas Student Media Board votes to eliminate prior review
Board members unsure when new policy will be made effective
March 8, 2007
The media board's unanimous decision was made possible last
month when the Texas Board of Regents voted to relinquish its oversight of
student media and allow the publications board to dictate procedure. As part of
the transition, the publications board revised the student media policy, which
for the first time since 1971 will not mandate prior review of the newspaper,
The Daily Texan.
"Plenty of Texan managing editors and
editors have been pushing for this for decades," said senior A.J. Bauer,
president of the media board and a former Texan editor in chief. "I'm
glad to see it."
Under the prior review policy, an adviser reviewed the
newspaper each night before it was sent to the printers. Now, according to the
new policy, the adviser will have a more indirect role, counseling students
throughout the day to ensure student staff can identity and avoid hazards such
as libel and privacy invasion.
The board did not vote on a specific date
for the transition to occur, and there was some dispute when the new policy
should take effect. Kathy Lawrence, who as director of student media implements
the board's decisions, said there was an informal agreement to wait until the
board purchases libel insurance.
Some at the meeting proposed putting
the new policy into effect immediately, while others suggested waiting until
June 1 when the next editor takes over, said Bauer, who in summer 2006 worked as
an intern for the Student Press Law Center.
Lawrence was unsure when the
libel insurance would be secured. She said she has been working with the
university's office of risk management to find a provider for the insurance,
which she estimated could cost $12,000 to $18,000 for all student media at the
university.
The disagreement over when the new adviser policy will be put
into effect is just one of several uncertainties the media board faces during
the transition from university oversight. For example, the break from the
university includes the separation of some business operations, while others
remain under the regents' purview.
Also, Lawrence said, the media board's
attorney has offered a different interpretation of details of the regents'
decision to resign oversight last month, so Lawrence is making an effort to
settle the disparities.
"I've sent a lot of questions to the UT
administration and through UT legal, and I've gotten some responses," she
said.
If left unresolved, the ambiguities could complicate the media
board meeting on March 30 at which the new student media policy book will be
reviewed. But Lawrence said that she is confident the uncertainties will be
resolved and that she does not foresee long-term problems with the new structure
of University of Texas student media.
"They're all resolvable," she said.
"That's not a 'probably.' It's just we need a little direction how to implement
it and when to implement it."
By Brian Hudson, SPLC staff
writer
© 2007 Student Press Law Center
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