The idea of putting high school restrictions on a college newspaper is ridiculous & and finally the courts agree.

Congress shall make no law …

Apparently, according to the lack of court opinion on the subject, the difference between high school and college is not a topic of discussion. Nor is the importance of the First Amendment, which the case Kincaid v. Gibson addresses. Nor, it seems, is the idea that a newspaper at the university level is still a newspaper, charged with the responsibility of relentlessly finding the truth and accurately reporting on situations from council meetings to the unchecked affiliations of a trustee.

… respecting an establishment of religion, …

In Kincaid, two college students sued Kentucky State officials for confiscating a yearbook that the students had put together and paid $9,000 for. The issue was: Is the yearbook a public forum? Could the university take it away, like a toy from a child?

… or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; …

Judge Joseph M. Hood from the U.S. District Court, Eastern District, in Frankfort, Ky., said yes. To support this opinion, he trucked in a court case from 1985 that dealt with a high school newspaper, The Spectrum. In this case, Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, the students had two articles censored from their newspaper by the principal. From this case, guidelines were drawn for determining how much freedom a student paper should have. A newspaper defined as part of the curriculum would have significantly less freedom than an off-campus paper.

… or abridging the freedom of speech, …

Most importantly, the judge in the case said a high school newspaper was not a public forum. Also, during the entire case, there was not a distinction drawn between high school and college students, but the emphasis of the ruling was on high school students. In the last Kincaid opinion, the distinction between high school and college was drawn using a recent case, Board of Regents of the Univ. of Wisconsin Sys. v. Southworth, a case concerning student fees. The conclusion was that the rights of institutions to “limit expressive freedom of students have been confined to high schools, whose students and their school’s relation to them are different and at least arguably distinguishable from their counterparts in college education.”

… or of the press; …

The importance of the First Amendment in Kincaid ensures that college journalists can learn from true experience. Ifadministrators could read and censor copy before printing, it would not reflect the real job of journalists. In the real world, city council members do not read stories about them before they go in the paper.

… or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, …

Perhaps some people think reading the story first would be a good idea — but here’s the truth: If people really are concerned about reporters or editors “finding something out,” there’s a problem. People who do good, honest business have nothing to hide. Those in charge who can point to reasons why they are doing such and such have nothing to worry about. The truth will show that. The reason for not letting others read articles is to protect not only the rights, but the truth. Sometimes, no matter what you do, a source will not be satisfied until their slant is on the story. And that’s not the truth, that’s opinion.

… and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Finding this truth is our job, whether we are 18 or 45. The term “student” does not diminish that in any way, but to say we are still learning. And we will, every day. That is the freedom, the right, that Kincaid gives us — the freedom to learn.

… The First Amendment.