MICHIGAN — A Michigan state legislator proposed a high school
free student press
bill on March 15 in his second attempt to pass a bill of its
kind in the last two years.
Sen. Michael Switalski (D-Roseville)
introduced the bill, SB 352, which provides K-12 students the authority to
decide the content of student publications and prohibits prior review by school
officials.
The same bill was proposed by Switalski on February 3, 2005,
as SB 156. The Committee on Education held a hearing on the bill that following
April, but the session ended before a vote could be taken in
committee.
Other former Michigan legislators have proposed similar bills
dating back to 1991. The most recent attempt prior to Switalski's efforts came
in 1998 by former Rep. Lynne Martinez (D-Lansing) who also called for a law
striking prior review and censorship of content for K-12 student
publications.
Similar bills are pending in Washington and Oregon which
would protect both public high school and college students under the same
statue. A college free press bill is also pending in Illinois.
Laws
protecting high school students exist in six other states: Arkansas, California,
Colorado, Kansas, Iowa and Massachusetts. California also passed a law in August
2006 that protects college students from censorship.
Michigan
Interscholastic Press Association Executive Director Cheryl Pell said her
organization is "hopeful" for the bill's success, considering the Committee on
Education is politically "conservative." The Republican Party holds a majority
in the committee and in the state senate.
"I just think we need to get
kind of a ground swell of students who are interested in this," Pell said.
"Getting students involved is the way to go. Hopefully, we can do
it."
Pell also said that her organization plans on publicizing the bill
by means of social networking sites like Facebook to rally interest among young
adults.
Michigan Press Association Executive Director Mike MacLaren said
he is concerned about the amount of authority this bill would give to students.
He said that including school officials in the process "creates a system akin to
what professional journalists face."
"In professional constructs, a staff
reporter could have their story edited or spiked if the publisher was not
comfortable with what would appear in the publication," MacLaren said. "I've
been through that experience myself. And while at the time I disagreed with the
publisher's decision to spike my story, I learned the valuable lesson that the
publisher calls the shots at the newspaper."
A hearing has yet to be
scheduled by the senate Committee on Education.
By Erica Hudock, SPLC
staff writer
