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University Press Should Be Afforded True Independence
Recently, Florida International University’s administration picked up 5,000 copies of The Beacon newspaper when it printed the name of an 18-year-old woman who charged she was sexually assaulted by an FIU officer (he was convicted the following day). Given that most Florida newspapers willingly opt not to print the names of sex victims, one is tempted to understand why the administration did this. Unfortunately, what the FIU administration did was not just censorship, it was illegal. “Government officials are not allowed to confiscate student newspapers,” Mike Hiestand, attorney and legal consultant for the Student Press Law Center, told The Beacon newspaper. “The information was obtained legally and by confiscating the newspapers they crossed the line.” This isn’t the first time FIU has moved against a student media outlet. Several months ago, journalism professors claimed that three articles from a now-defunct student news Web site called FusedOnline.com were taken down for being in “bad taste,” including a profile about a female student sex addict. A segment taped by FIU broadcast students about FIU football coach Don Strock was also “censored” because the athletic department did not like the “tone,” former journalism professor Kevin Hall told the Miami New Times in June 2005. “They’re teaching that journalism is really public relations,” he said. Incidentally, Hall and several other journalism professors left the department after either being denied tenure or, as Hall put it, because the department bowed to censorship demands by the administration. FIU’s administration is skittish about bad publicity. That was part of the motivation for ordering the pickup of Beacon papers: fear of more negative backlash while one of their police officers was being tried for sexually assaulting someone on campus. FIU acted against FusedOnline in a similar manner. FIU is a public agency run by state government appointees. Such an entity, especially one that is arguably gutting its journalism department, can’t be expected to allow a semi-independent newspaper or Web site to print whatever its students want. In 1990, when journalism professors and administrators “brainstormed” to create an “independent” student newspaper, they created a viable entity known as The Beacon, according to an online newsletter report. However, The Beacon still depends on funds from the university and as such will always be beholden to its wishes and whims. If FIU, its journalism department and its journalism students care anything about the future of The Beacon, and want to regain the glory of producing award-winning journalists, they will brainstorm yet again and find a way for the paper to be less dependent on university funds. Until then, The Beacon and any other student media outlet can expect to have their operations interfered with by university bigwigs who can’t quite grasp what journalism is all about.
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