Training, Not Punishment

A Statement from Black College Wire on the Suspension of The Gramblinite

Administrators at Grambling University chose to suspend, then un-suspend, publication of The Gramblinite because of allegations of plagiarism, errors and the general "poor quality" of the paper.

The action of shutting down a student publication at a public university is serious and dangerous. First Amendment issues aside, silencing the student press for any length of time is an act of punishment against the entire student body. At many institutions, including Grambling, students pay fees to receive the paper, and they rely upon it for news and information. The school paper is an important means of communication.

However, accuracy and ethics are critical and must be addressed through training and education, not punitive edicts and recrimination.

It appears that the administrators now realize this and plan to seek out practicing journalists to come in as visiting professors to work with Gramblinite students. But the administration has taken a step backward by requiring the newspaper adviser to review the paper before it goes to press. This is a violation of the students' First Amendment rights. The administrators should visit the Student Press Law Center's Web site to learn about the rights of collegiate journalists and advisers, particularly those at public institutions such as Grambling.

"A Manual for Student Media Advisers on Responding to Censorship" is available at the SPLC site and addresses many of these issues. While the students may need to hone their editing skills, the Grambling administrators need training on student press law.

Administrators, faculty, student leaders and the newspaper staff should work together to construct an ongoing process to ensure improvement of the paper while upholding the rights of the staff and the adviser.

Even at professional newspapers, quality suffers when newsrooms are short-staffed and underfunded. In college newsrooms, staff members are often seen working late hours in cramped quarters on outdated equipment. The students who take on these responsibilities often sacrifice grades, social life and outside jobs because of their passion for reporting the news. They are to be admired and encouraged, not discouraged and humiliated.

The Gramblinite has a strong history of producing first-rate journalists, including some who are now leaders in the profession. This is an opportunity for them to "give back" to their institution by offering to help.

It is also an opportunity for local journalists and members of national organizations to help not only Grambling's newspaper staff, but student journalists at numerous colleges and universities.

This incident is not unique. Every time an attempt at censorship occurs, it serves to enlighten and educate. Bottom line, that's what college is all about.

This is an official statement from Black College Wire. To comment, e-mail [email protected]

Posted Jan. 26, 2007

Grambling Adviser Should Just Say No, She'd Be Violating Her Code of Ethics

By Pamela Foster
Black College Wire

I encourage my colleague Wanda Peters at Grambling State University to do as I did at Tennessee State University when my former department head, with the backing of the university’s legal adviser, demanded that I read all student newspaper and yearbook copy before publication. I said no.

Pamela Foster of Tennessee State University: "I just say no to mandatory prior review."

My former department head said to me in a 2002 memo (PDF), "To ensure the quality of the student newspaper and yearbook, it is your responsibility to proofread each issue for spelling and grammar. From now on, it is my expectation that, before every issue is published, you will proofread the copy and correct spelling and grammatical errors in all student-authored articles, reviews, and editorials."

I said no. No, I will not violate the College Media Advisers code of ethics, which states in part, “There should never be an instance where an adviser maximizes quality by minimizing learning. Student media should always consist of student work.

“Faculty, staff and other non-students who assume advisory roles with student media must remain aware of their obligation to defend and teach without censoring, editing, directing or producing. It should not be the media adviser's role to modify student writing or broadcasts, for it robs student journalists of educational opportunity and could severely damage their rights to free expression.”

It pains me that university officials would ask a fellow university worker to violate her professional code of ethics. But I understand that it happens. What matters more is what happens after such a demand. While I adhere to the College Media Advisers code of ethics in taking responsibility for teaching my students without editing or censoring their work, I expect my students to adhere to both the student journalists code of ethics and the Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics in taking full responsibility for their work.

No, I will not discourage my students from learning grammar and style while instead encouraging them to rely on me to use my grammar and style proficiency in their stories. When students make errors, they need to hear the public’s wrath and vow to increase their reporting and editing skills and diligence. And my students have done just that. My former department head asked me to conduct mandatory prior review after TSU’s student newspaper, The Meter, published repeated and egregious errors. At least one of my students claimed she didn’t know enough to do a good job of newspapering without me doing the editing, akin to The Gramblinite editor saying the students welcome any help the administration provides in helping them make fewer errors. But then my students bucked up and implemented what they were taught. They don't have virtually error-free publications, yet, but they're tops among their peers and are taking responsibility for getting better every day.

Now the newspaper and yearbook students I advise boast having won 80 awards since I began advising them in 1998, including 2005-2006 best weekly publication, best Web site, and best in-depth coverage in various competitions. And they’ve won these awards and have gone on to newspaper and affiliated jobs not because I know grammar and style, but because they do.

No, I will not disqualify my students from ethically competing in contests in which student work is pitted against student work. Work edited by an adviser is ineligible. My students won their latest four awards this month in the Southeast Journalism Conference’s Best of the South contest. It’s a disservice to The Gramblinite students that they now cannot enter this contest nor the Black College Communication Association’s HBCU National Newspaper Contest, the Associated Collegiate Press contests, the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards, or any of the many other contests available for students journalists to encourage and showcase excellent work, all because their adviser is editing their work. The journalism conferences at which students win awards also are places where students get great professional teaching in workshops and seminars. I can’t imagine disqualifying my students, who would much rather compete and learn what I know than have me correct their work for them.

“I could never see Ms. Foster editing for our paper,” said Marshall Latimore, The Meter’s copy and opinions editor. “If she did that then I would never fully learn the error of my ways. There's a lot to be learned that happens during the publication process. When you open the paper and see errors, it forces our staff to work harder at delivering the best product possible.”

The Meter’s editor in chief, Eddie R. Cole, Jr., said, “The long, tiring hours we put into being in the newsroom working on our paper goes down the drain as soon as we’re not allowed to put the icing on the cake – edit our copy. If our adviser has to come behind and play clean-up, then we may as well not even attempt to produce our own student-run newspaper. Additionally, how prepared for working at commercial newspapers am I going to be if I’ve always had a safety net to catch my every error?”

No, I will not violate the Constitution of the United States. Mandatory prior review is unconstitutional, period. Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center and the leading authority on student press law, says, “Independent of the educational and ethical implications of prior review, the courts have consistently declared it unconstitutional.” Why would anyone with less expertise than Goodman think otherwise? Even TSU’s legal adviser, who later told me I should be conducting mandatory prior review, first told me and others at TSU that, ". . . (I)n the eyes of the law, a requirement of submission for prior review constitutes an illegal attempt to control the content of student publications. . . . Publication cannot be conditioned on the approval of any institutional employee. This is 'prior restraint.'" (PDF)

In its Liability for Student Media publication the Student Press Law Center says, “The positive news for administrators is that courts have consistently said you cannot hold a public college liable for the acts of its student publications as long as the school is not censoring or exercising some other form of content control. The First Amendment does not permit public colleges to exercise the type of control necessary to be held liable. Thus, as long as a school follows the constraints of the First Amendment, it should be protected from liability.”

Just as I strongly urge public university media advisers not to violate their professional ethics, to take responsibility for teaching their students, and to avoid putting their universities in legal jeopardy by editing student work, I also strongly encourage public university student journalists to resist any attempt at First Amendment infringement. The Society of Professional Journalists and the Student Press Law Center are among the many resources available to help. I’d like to see the National Association of Black Journalists help Grambling do the right thing, too.

I just say no to mandatory prior review for these ethical, educational, and legal reasons. And I say yes to quality journalism. If the college media process works as it should, it can work wonders, just as it does at Tennessee State University .

Pamela Foster is student publications director at Tennessee State University, a board member of the Black College Communication Association and the National Scholastic Press Association, and a member of College Media Advisers. She may be reached at [email protected]

Posted Jan. 27, 2007