R.I. university forms committee to review publications, broadcasts deemed objectionable

Decision comes after conservative newsletter published controversial articles about homosexuals

© 2003 Student Press Law Center

October 30, 2003

RHODE ISLAND –– Editors of a student publication at Roger Williams University in Bristol are fighting for their free press rights after university administrators formed a publications and broadcast review committee last week.

The committee was formed two weeks after conservative students and college administrators clashed over the September edition of the RWU College Republicans’ newsletter, The Hawk’s Right Eye.

The private university’s committee will require each student publication or radio program to be reviewed by its adviser prior to being printed or broadcast. If an adviser finds certain content objectionable, the five-member committee will review the content and decide if the publication or radio program can state its affiliation with RWU, said Jason Mattera, editor of The Hawk’s Right Eye.

“The university does not want to lend its name willing to something we feel has no standards,” said Robert Avery, general counsel and vice president of human resources at RWU.

Avery said the university wants to protect itself from any comments that may make the university vulnerable to legal action. Avery said he was not aware of any legal action ever taken against the school because of content in a student publication or broadcast.

Mattera, who received notice about the new committee Friday, said there are no provisions that allow for students to appeal the committee’s decision. In addition, it is unclear whether the committee’s meetings would be open to the public, he said.

The RWU faculty senate is also in the process of creating “community standards,” which would outline what can and cannot be published by a student group, Mattera said.

Both the committee and the senate’s “community standards” will affect all RWU student publications and radio programs. However, The Hawk’s Right Eye is the only partisan publication on campus, Mattera said.

“This is something that concerns future publications,” Mattera said. “There may be professors or advisers who are not as tolerant and who might use this [policy] against conservatives.”

Matt Butler, music director at WQRI, the university’s radio station, said it was unclear how the committee would impact the station or even how the committee would regulate content. Butler said the station’s adviser does not currently review any of the content before it is aired. The only regulations WQRI follows are those of the Federal Communications Commission, he said.

“If the university does in fact establish something that censors publications and radio broadcasts that goes against what the university wants to do in terms of diversity,” Butler said.

But Avery said the university’s committee would not focus on any particular student publication or radio program. He said the university’s goal is to ensure that there are a diverse number of voices heard on campus.

“[The university] is looking to allow the maximum amount of speech without invoking legal problems,” Avery said.

The controversy began when, in the Sept. 30 edition of the newsletter, the RWU College Republicans took aim at a campus visit by Judy Shepard, whose son Matthew was the victim of an anti-gay murder, and James Dale, who was kicked out of the Boy Scouts for being gay.

In the issue, a front-page article accused “militant homosexuals” of attacking free speech by pushing for hate crime legislation. Mattera wrote in another article that a nationally known gay and lesbian rights group encourages children to engage in homosexual sex. The Hawk’s Right Eye also contained an article from the WorldNetDaily, a conservative publication, which detailed the rape of a young male by an older male.

In his open letter to the RWU community Oct. 9, President Roy J. Nirschel wrote that he found the newsletter to be “pornographic in nature, mean-spirited and stereotypes gay individuals as child molesters, criminals or deviants.”

Funding for the newsletter was abruptly frozen until pressure from national conservative groups caused administrators to announce last week that the group’s $2,700 would be reinstated, Mattera said.

In addition, the group will lose its faculty adviser.

June Speakman, a political science professor whose served as the group’s adviser since its formation two years ago, said she resigned as the College Republicans adviser because she was exhausted from defending the group, which she said has also been accused of espousing anti-Muslim rhetoric in the past. She said she felt the need to distance herself from their activities. However, Speakman said she is continuing to act as the adviser until a replacement is found.

RWU requires each student organization to have an adviser to be a campus organization and receive funding, she said.

A self-described liberal-Democrat, Speakman said she found the tone of the recent newsletter to be offensive. She said she only reviewed part of the edition before it was published.

Speakman said she agrees with university’s action and plans to review the group’s entire next issue, which is due in November. If anything is offensive, she said she would discuss the matter with Mattera and the newsletter’s other writers before she brings it to the committee.

“This is a community and we need to treat each other with respect,” Speakman said. “I think the this discourse needs to be within the boundaries of civility and decency.”

Mattera said he respects Speakman’s opinion and will continue to seek her input on The Hawk’s Right Eye. However, he said the RWU College Republicans plan to challenge the committee even if it means bypassing it completely. He said that might result in the group losing its funding.

“Ultimately, we are just students and they are in charge and can abuse their authority,” Mattera said.

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