Free Republic

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS The First Amendment has been getting a workout in recent weeks on two college campuses — the University of Florida and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — where students are learning that free speech is a messy business. The two cases, one involving a columnist at North Carolina and the other a political cartoonist at Florida, have inflamed minority groups — Muslims and black students, respectively — provoking protests and debate. That’s the good news insofar as protest and debate are the currency of free speech. What’s not such good news is that...

The issue: An appellate court ruled that college newspapers aren't protected by the First Amendment.We say: Students and college officials need to work more closely to protect First Amendment rights.Our ViewLast month, the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago(which encompasses Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin) ruled against three former journalism students at Governors State University in nearby University Park. The three sued a dean who ordered the printer to cease printing any more issues of the student newspaper after an article including details of the paper's former adviser's dismissal from the university was published. The court contended that since...