Censorship 101: Angry Colorado Principal Shuts Down High School Newspaper

by Carol Scott · 2011-03-28 13:46:00 UTC
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A Colorado high school principal has shut down the school's award-winning student newspaper -- for truthfully reporting on the death of a classmate. Telling students that their story was "too big for a high school paper," he yanked the students' faculty advisor from her position, changed their journalism class to a non-publishing class and shut down the paper.

But Principal Leon Lundie of Overland High School in Aurora, Colo, may have picked the wrong students to intimidate. The students behind The Overland Scout have enlisted the ACLU and the Student Press Law Center to come to their defense. You can help add pressure by signing this Change.org petition, which will send an email to Principal Lundie telling him that censoring student journalism isn't just unethical - it's against the law.

Colorado is one of a handful of states that specifically guarantees student journalists - and their advisers - the protection of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. (Read the text of the Colorado Student Free Expression law here.)

But Principal Lundie blatantly disregarded the law in an attempt to silence a benign story the students reported about a fellow student who died as a result of an injury during a wrestling tournament, students say. Even though the students backed up the story with interviews and research - and even provided Lundie with the student's death certificate - he reportedly told them that the story lacked balance and couldn't be printed.

When the students said they'd go ahead with the story, Lundie told them it would be the last issue they'd publish, hauled their advisor into a meeting and fired her, and said through a spokesperson that the newspaper was shutting down due to "budget concerns" - a rationale refuted by the students themselves, who say they're not over budget. The ACLU and the Student Press Law Center are speaking up for these students - let's add our voices as well.

Speak up for the young journalists of The Overland Scout and their advisor, Laura Sudik, and tell Overland High School's principal: Don't shut down a student paper for telling the truth.

Photo credit: TheLichfieldBlog via Flickr

Carol Scott is the Education Editor for Change.org.

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