Twenty years ago, Congress decided that colleges could no longer hide behind federal privacy law to withhold information when they determined that a sex offense had been committed on campus.Knowing that serious crimes often are processed through secretive disciplinary channels outside of public view, Congress amended the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to say that the outcome of a disciplinary hearing is not confidential if the student is found culpable for conduct amounting to a crime of violence or a sex crime.Colleges have been slow to get this message, however, and Exhibit A is the University of Maryland -- which for the better part of the last three years fought student journalists' attempts to report on the way rape allegations are investigated and punished.It took a ruling from the state attorney general -- and even then, compliance took many months and a battle over jacked-up fees -- before the university agreed to comply with the Maryland Public Information Act and release the documents sought by student reporters from Capital News Service.Now it's apparent why Maryland was so resistant to disclosure: Because the answer to the question "who has been punished for committing a sexual assault on campus" is "almost no one."If the university's public-records production is complete, then only four students -- one of them a former Maryland Terrapins quarterback who transferred away in 2006 -- were punished by the school's Office of Student Conduct for sex offenses over the last 10 years, according to CNS. That is a remarkably low number for a school that enrolls more than 37,000 students annually.Maryland's Clery Act report, a federally mandated snapshot of campus crimes, shows 105 forcible sexual assaults reported from 2006 through 2008 alone.
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Pa. district’s news media policy avoids restrictive school board association ‘model’
PENNSYLVANIA — After press advocates last year raised concerns about a policy that could have restricted students and staff from speaking to the media without approval, the Wilson School District adopted a less restrictive policy.The school board adopted a revised “News Media Relations” policy at its Dec.
Supreme Court debates First Amendment rights of elected officials in ethics law case
Supreme Court justices appeared perplexed Wednesday about how to resolve the case of a Nevada city councilman who claims his First Amendment free-speech rights were violated when he was penalized for voting on a casino development that financially benefited his campaign manager.Councilman Michael A.
College radio stations declare “moment of silence” to mark the “death” of independent student voices on the airwaves
Critics sometimes bemoan the "sameness" of programming across the over-the-air radio dial, but for one minute on Thursday, listeners truly will hear exactly the same thing whether they are in Missouri or Maryland or Michigan: The sound of silence.Not the Simon and Garfunkel classic, either.
Mo. university removes award-winning newspaper adviser
An award-winning student newspaper adviser hasbeen fired from his job at Missouri Southern State University afteradministrators said they "wanted to make a change."
TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: The sometimes-distasteful truth about cafeteria food
Sometimes public-records searches turn up back-room insider deals, kickbacks, golden parachutes and rigged contracts.
SPLC Guide to Fair Use
The basics of fair use and some fair use situations that commonly arise in the student media context.
Second Circuit rules against student in off-campus blog suit, avoids free speech decision
The2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday ruled that a student did not have aclearly established First Amendment right to criticize school administrators inan off-campus blog.
PRESS RELEASE: SPLC Statement on Today’s Decision in Doninger v. Niehoff
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Frank D. LoMonte, executive director
(703) 807-1904 / director@splc.org
The Student Press Law Center voiced concern Monday that the 2nd U.S.
Adviser, in need of brain surgery, suddenly fired at UT-Tyler
The studentnewspaper adviser at the University of Texas at Tyler was fired Friday, leavingher without insurance for her upcoming brain surgery.