Skyline College is lucky. The students here have full opportunity to use The Skyline View to speak out and tell the truth and freely read the truth. Students and newspapers on other college and university campuses are not as fortunate. We at The Skyline View respect our freedom and the right to publish what we want without the administration censoring us. We feel that if our right to freedom of speech was taken away it would take away from the college as a whole.
Because we are an open forum this paper is a first amendment protected publication. The administration cannot read our paper before it is published and cannot stop us from publishing any article. That means despite how bad the truth may make one look, we can still print it and not be punished as a newspaper for it.
The Hosty v. Carter case can potentially put an end to our freedom. The case has affected the freedom of the press that the Governors State University once had. The university now has to have the administration’s approval before the paper is published.
Universities in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin are the only ones currently affected by the Hosty v. Carter case. Those universities have lost their freedom from the administration.
Since the Supreme Court’s Hazelwood decision in 1988, High school newspapers have been censored and have limited free speech rights. High school officials can stop anything they want from being printed. Now college campuses might be forced to suffer the same fate.
If we at The Skyline View had to submit our articles for approval, it not only violates our right to free speech, it could potentially hurt the campus community. If the administration could take out what they didn’t want people to know, it hurts the credibility of the school and our paper. Students have a right to know what goes on in their school and who their educators are. If the administration stifles our words, they stifle our freedom and in turn stifle our education.
At the same time, people believe that administrators should be respected and not attacked by students. Also, people think students on the newspaper have power, the power of the press and they should use that power for good and not bad. It is true that students never truly have complete freedom and there are always limits, but should we really hide the truth just to save someone’s reputation?
If something written is not true, it is libelous, and legal action could possibly be taken. However, if it is true, even if it makes the professor or administrator look bad, it is not libelous and could be written about as long as privacy is not being invaded. Don’t students deserve the truth?
If our campus becomes affected by the Hosty case, our students will lose one of their biggest college assets, the ability to speak their mind in their campus newspaper. Students have power, we can incite change. If we have a problem with something, we can write about it in our school paper, anybody could, not just those on staff. If there’s a controversial topic to discuss, we can freely and openly do so, but if the administration was able to stop that, they stop our ability to think and grow.