Combatting Institutional Censorship of College Journalists: the Need for a "Tailored Public Forum" Category to Best Protect Subsidized Student Newspapers

Authors

Nicole Comparato

Abstract

College journalists are in a unique position. On one hand, they are typical college students, attending classes and cheering on the team at all the big games. On the other, they serve as investigative journalists, revealing the university’s deepest flaws on the front page of their newspaper. These roles should not be mutually exclusive, but at an alarming rate, universities are attempting to rid themselves of bad press by censoring their own campus newspapers.

This Note argues that universities can get away with this because of the current structure of the public forum doctrine. This doctrine determines the extent to which the government can control speech on government property. Current juris- prudence leaves student newspapers, funded either wholly or in part by public universities, vulnerable to regulation by their administrations. This Note demonstrates that in order to prevent this, public forum doctrine should adapt to include a “Tailored Public Forum” category. This would allow universities to limit who can speak, but not what they can say. This change is critical to ensure that college news- papers can contribute to the marketplace of ideas and are afforded the degree of independence they deserve.

Recommended Citation

Nicole Comparato, Combatting Institutional Censorship of College Journalists: the Need for a "Tailored Public Forum" Category to Best Protect Subsidized Student Newspapers, 71 U. Mia. L. Rev. 528 (2017)
Available at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umlr/vol71/iss2/9