Ruling may hurt campus media

The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, with jurisdiction over the state of Michigan, delivered a ruling last Wednesday that upheld the 1997 decision by a federal district court that sided with Kentucky State University after the administration confiscated 2,000 student yearbooks.

Controversy ensued and a discussion began regarding the decision's possible infringement upon First Amendment rights.

"A very dangerous precedent has been set for student journalists," said Bruce Orwin, attorney for the plaintiff students. "We believe the court was wrong in its decision," he added.

But Kentucky State University officials do not see it that way.

Hinfred McDuffe, vice president for university advancement at Kentucky State, said in a written statement, that Kentucky State "is pleased with the decision ... Our student press enjoys the same journalistic freedom enjoyed by other university students."

At the heart of the sixth circuit's decision was the determination that a yearbook is not a public forum, a distinction that would have allowed the publication's protection under the First Amendment.

Orwin says he feels that the court's not granting the yearbook public forum status threatens it and similar student publications.

"They're trying to make it like a picture book of volleyball and sorority functions rather than a journal of current events at the university," said Orwin.

The decision in Kincaid vs. Gibson was upheld primarily due to the 1988 Supreme Court decision, concerning a Missouri school district, Hazelwood School District vs. Kuhlmeier, which declared the constitutionality of a high school principal's decision to censor student publications. The Kincaid decision marked the first time Hazelwood was applied in a case involving a university.

The Kincaid case erupted in 1994 after officials at Kentucky State confiscated nearly 2,000 copies of the university's yearbook - "The Thorobred." The administration maintains they acted because the purple cover of the yearbook was not consistent with the school's official colors of green and yellow and, they also claim, the current events section was of poor quality.

By siding with Kentucky State, the sixth circuit has possibly opened the floodgates for further censorship of student publications.

Prof. Jo-Ann Albers, director of the School of Journalism and Broadcasting at Western Kentucky University, fears that because the Hazelwood decision was applied for the first time to college publications, journalism at the university level could be in danger.

"After the Hazelwood decision high school principals censored material just because they could," Albers said, adding that the Kincaid decision "is a significant impairment to college journalism."

Though Albers sees many forms of student publications as vulnerable under the Kincaid decision, she does not see university newspapers being subject to censorship.

Since the sixth circuit court has jurisdiction over colleges throughout Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan, student publications throughout the region could be directly affected.

"I believe the biggest effects will be felt by other student publications, not papers, but non-traditional public forums," Orwin said.

Both Orwin and Albers believe this issue is far from resolved. Orwin has asked for a rehearing which will allow all the judges sitting on the sixth circuit bench to hear the case.

Albers is looking even further down the road. She said, "I'm sure (this case) will end up in the Supreme Court."

09-15-99