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STUDENTS
LOCAL
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Guest Speaker
Spaniolo, guest discuss freedom of press
The plaintiff in a case for students’ First Amendment rights
visits to tell her story.
The Shorthorn assistant news editor
Margaret Hosty, plaintiff in a court case that was dismissed by the
Supreme Court earlier this year, appeared with President James Spaniolo
Wednesday to discuss the future of university students’ First
Amendment protections.
As a former student editor for The Innovator, the student newspaper
for Illinois’ Governors State University, Hosty and her co-workers
reported an alleged misappropriation of funds collected from student
fees involving Patricia Carter, the university’s Student Affairs
and Services dean.
After the paper ran several articles criticizing the administration,
Carter, claiming a desire to edit the paper’s punctuation and
grammar, contacted the printers and instructed them not to print without
her approval.
Hosty then sued Carter for violating the paper’s constitutional
rights, but the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed her case saying
the censorship authority high school administrators have over student
newspapers also applies to university administrators. Hosty’s
case was dismissed by the Supreme Court in February, effectively ending
her chances of fighting the lower court’s ruling.
Since the Supreme Court chose not to rule on the decision, the 7th Circuit
Court’s ruling applies only in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
Hosty said the importance of the decision should not be underestimated.
The decision is the first step down a slippery slope that could lead
to a large-scale abandonment of constitutional liberties, she said.
“As far as I’m concerned, people who say it doesn’t
matter because it’s only in three states is like saying it’s
OK to still enslave black people or women or whoever if it’s only
in three states,” she said. “It’s already started
in my circuit. It’s going to spread like wildfire.”
Spaniolo, offering his view as an administrator, said he doesn’t
expect many other universities to follow Governors State University’s
example and that he believes most university administrators value the
freedom of the press. However, vigilance is critical in ensuring that
violations do not occur, he said.
“I don’t want to suggest that the freedom of the press on
college campuses is secure and is nothing to worry about,” he
said. “First Amendment issues and First Amendment principles need
to be every citizen’s concern.”
Hosty said her fight for civil rights has had a personal impact on her.
After five years of court battles and being unable to recruit financial
help, the ordeal has taken a lot of time, energy and money, she said.
In addition, she said the repercussions from her own university’s
administration following the suit were difficult. Hosty said the newsroom
became the target of vandalism to the point that the police were worried
for the students’ safety.
“They withheld our budget. They wouldn’t pay us. They harassed
our entire staff. They tried to make us quit,” she said. “The
administration about whom we wrote the investigative articles went in
and deleted my thesis credits.”
After hearing Hosty’s accusations of her administration, Spaniolo
said her situation sounded like a conspiracy.
“It sounded like something out of The Firm — or One Flew
Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” he said.
CORRECTION
The article should have stated that the Supreme Court chose not to hear Margaret Hosty’s
appeal of the 7th Circuit Court’s ruling against her in her suit against Patricia Carter,
a Governors State University dean.
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Margaret
Hosty
of Governors State University |
