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The letter of concern cites several instances in which the Collegian and its staff faced intimidation or retaliation for the content of their journalistic work, including a proposed transfer under which authority for the newspaper would be shifted to a new department, in an apparent attempt to exert greater administrative control over the newspaper's editorial content.

The SPLC was joined in its January 15 letter by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Inc., a nonprofit advocacy group supporting freedom of speech on college campuses.

State Senator Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo, California's leading champion of student First Amendment rights, has called for an inquiry into possible violations of student journalists' rights, but President Jamillah Moore has insisted that no violations occurred.

"LACC has damaged its own credibility with its stunning inability to find a First Amendment violation in a climate where such violations seem to happen as a matter of course. Finding a First Amendment violation at LACC is like looking for a needle in a needle stack," says the January 15 letter, directed to LACC Board of Trustees President Mona Field.

"It is beyond dispute that at a public college -- especially a college in California, which has the strongest student free-speech laws in America -- the student editors of a campus publication have the freedom to publish anything that is lawful, and to do so free from fear of reprisal," said Frank D. LoMonte, an attorney and executive director of the Student Press Law Center. "Unfortunately, L.A. City College has cultivated a climate in which student journalists fear that tough, honest journalism will be met with retaliation against them and their newspaper."

"We hope that the Board of Trustees will reinforce to the administration of LACC that an award-winning newspaper is something to be celebrated, and that the newspaper's editorial freedom is a vital part of its educational value," LoMonte said, noting that Collegian staff writer Mars Melincoff won third-place nationally in the 2009 Associated Collegiate Press competition for "sports story of the year" -- the only two-year college student recognized in that category -- for her investigation of academic irregularities in LACC's basketball program.

The letter highlights several examples of apparent violations of free-press rights on campus, including:

President Moore's demand that a student journalist covering an open, public meeting sign a "waiver" as a condition of being allowed to report on the events of the meeting.A letter of reprimand issued to an LACC employee rebuking him for providing the Collegian with a copy of a public record that documented a (later-rescinded) 40 percent budget cut to the newspaper. (The letter of reprimand was withdrawn when it was shown that the employee was not the source of the document, but LACC has never acknowledged that it is improper to discipline employees for granting lawful requests for public records.)

Students in two-year public colleges in California are protected not only by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution but by California Education Code Section 76120, which provides that two-year colleges may not prohibit or punish speech unless it is libelous, obscene, or creates a "clear and present danger" of inciting its audience to break the law or otherwise disrupt the operations of the campus.

Since 1974, the Student Press Law Center has been devoted to educating high school and college journalists about the rights and responsibilities embodied in the First Amendment, and supporting the student news media in covering important issues free from censorship. The Center provides free information and educational materials for student journalists and their teachers on a wide variety of legal topics.