SPLC

Told their grades were dependent on the issue's distribution, newspaper staff requested to remove their bylines from the published stories as a sign of protest, as well as to include an editors' note explaining the circumstances under which the newspaper was published. The administration refused both requests, according to newspaper staff members.

"We are dealing with a school administration that is completely out of control and is clearly willing to stoop to anything to shut down independent journalism," said Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center.

LoMonte said the administrators' actions show a willingness to jeopardize the students' chances to attend college.

"It's truly sad that Stevenson High School is run by people who operate under the principle of 'what's the worst thing we can do to our students and get away with it under the law,' rather than what's best for the students' education," he said.

The forced publication follows the administration's refusal to print the Nov. 20 Statesmen because of objections over content. The issue began when Statesmen Editor-in-Chief Pamela Selman submitted for prior review the paper that included a front-page article discussing the school's substance-abuse ("no use") contracts, for which the reporter and editor granted sources anonymity.

Selman told the Student Press Law Center that the number of student leaders who have broken the contract -- meaning they have used drugs or alcohol -- appears to have greatly increased, making it a newsworthy topic, but also a topic students would be hesitant to speak about unless they remained nameless. According to the students, the head of the Communications Arts program at Stevenson told newspaper staff members if they laid out the paper with the story, administrators would remove it during prior review and require staff members to reveal the names of the anonymous sources.

When staff members chose to remove the article and distribute the issue with a blank front page, the administrative review board refused to allow the issue to print with the blank space, and objected two other stories -- one regarding teen pregnancy and the other discussing shoplifting -- and directed that the paper not be published with that disputed content.

On Nov. 20, staff members of The Statesman "passed out" non-existent newspapers to students at the entry doors of the school, silently protesting the censorship that initially started when Editor-in-Chief Pam Selman submitted a copy of the Nov. 20 issue to an administrative review board for prior review.

James Conrey, director of public information at Stevenson, released a statement Nov. 20 detailing the review board's reasons for pulling the issue. In it, administrators explained that the newspaper was halted on Nov. 20 because the advisers did not think having anonymous sources in an article discussing alleged illegal activity was "fit for print." It also explained that while the advisers gave the student editors the option of holding the article until it could be changed, they decided to run a blank cover, which was not a suitable solution for administrators.

"A collaborative decision was made by the leaders of the journalism program to delay the issue's publication until the questions about the article's sourcing could be resolved," the statement said.

The school denied pulling the issue for reasons concerning damaging the school's reputation, and did not mention the other two articles in question.

"This is nothing but a power game of administrators trying to 'show the kids who's boss.'," LoMonte said. "But what they are about to learn is that they don't own this school, the public does, and the public will not tolerate the government telling people what they can and can't say."

The students are being represented pro-bono by Chicago attorney Gabriel Fuentes and his law firm, Jenner & Block LLP, through the SPLC's volunteer attorney referral network.