Governors State University: Censorship of Student Newspaper

Case Materials

• "FIRE Disappointed with Supreme Court’s Refusal to Take ‘Hosty v. Carter’," February 24, 2006: FIRE has issued a statement regarding its disappointment over the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to hear an appeal of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit’s opinion in Hosty v. Carter, leaving student newspapers at public universities in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin vulnerable to administrative censorship. FIRE Interim President Greg Lukianoff stated that “Hosty v. Carter is simply the most harmful Court of Appeals decision regarding student freedom of speech in higher education to come down in a generation.”
• "Reply Brief of Petitioners to the Brief in Opposition of Certiorari in Hosty v. Carter, January 17, 2006," January 17, 2006
• "State of Illinois’ Brief in Opposition to Certiorari in Hosty v. Carter, December 22, 2005," December 12, 2005
• "FIRE Files Brief Urging Supreme Court to Hear Student Newspaper Censorship Case," FIRE Press Release, October 19, 2005: On October 19, FIRE filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to hear an appeal of Hosty v. Carter, a Seventh Circuit decision that poses a grave threat to student press freedom. FIRE President David French declared, “The Seventh Circuit’s decision in Hosty v. Carter has the potential to destroy freedom of the press on campus.... We hope that the Supreme Court will intervene and undo this potentially disastrous opinion.”
• "FIRE's Supreme Court Certiorari Amicus Brief in Hosty v. Carter, October 19, 2005," October 19, 2005
• "Seventh Circuit Decision Threatens Student Press Freedom," FIRE Press Release, September 19, 2005: FIRE is rallying opposition to Hosty v. Carter, a recent Seventh Circuit decision that could be used to severely restrict student speech.  On Friday, the plaintiffs’ attorney filed the formal petition to the United States Supreme Court to reverse the ruling, and today FIRE releases its policy statement condemning the opinion.  FIRE also plans to file an amicus brief and is seeking to forge a broad coalition opposing the decision.
• "FIRE Policy Statement on ‘Hosty v. Carter’," Greg Lukianoff and Samantha Harris, September 19, 2005: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit’s en banc opinion in Hosty v. Carter, No. 01-4155 (7th Cir. June 20, 2005), is a poorly conceived opinion that, if upheld, will do serious harm to freedom of speech on campus far beyond the realm of student media.
• "Petition to the Supreme Court for Certiorari in Hosty v. Carter," September 16, 2005
• "‘Hosty v. Carter,’ June 20, 2005," June 20, 2005
• "Federal Court Upholds Free Press at Governors State University—Amicus Brief "Superb"," April 10, 2003: On April 10, 2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld freedom of the press at Governors State University (GSU), in University Park, Illinois. FIRE had joined an amicus brief submitted by the Student Press Law Center urging the Court to vindicate the basic first amendment rights of college students. Judge Terence T. Evans, who wrote the decision, called this brief "superb." This is a crucial victory that undoes an attempt to impose a truly draconian form of censorship on college students and should serve as a warning to any university that seeks to treat their students as children.
• "Amicus Brief in Hosty v. Carter, No. 01-4155, Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals," April 10, 2003

Media Coverage

• "For free student press, move off campus," Jeffrey M. McCall, The Indianapolis Star, March 18, 2006: The implications of this decision could go beyond campus media to the free expression rights of any campus organization that accepts university subsidies. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) fears the Hosty decision will embolden university administrators to increase regulation of the many religious, political and social campus groups that rely on funds collected as student fees.
• "Supreme Court neglects the right to free student press," Royal Purple News (UW-Whitewater), March 8, 2006: This new ruling has been called by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, “the most harmful Court of Appeals decision regarding student freedom of speech in higher education to come down in a generation.”
• "Ruling could test MSC free press," The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colo.), March 6, 2006: “Unfortunately, the inescapable message of this decision is that college students, nearly all of them adults, should have the same level of press freedom as high school freshmen in a journalism class,” Lukianoff said.
• "Student editors react to ‘Hosty’ decision," Ricky Ribeiro, Student Press Law Center, February 28, 2006: “The Supreme Court made the wrong decision flat out,” said Greg Lukianoff, interim president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a non-profit organization dedicated to defending individual rights at colleges and universities. “This decision has badly muddied the legal landscape when it comes to freedom of speech. I’ve previously called this decision a disaster, and I stand by that.”
• "Court flawed in student paper ruling," Charles Parsons, The Badger Herald (UW-Madison), October 27, 2005: Last week the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education filed an amicus brief in Hosty v. Carter, the recent 7th Circuit Court ruling that allows colleges to censor student newspapers that receive a substantial amount of funding from that college.
• "In-depth: Words Left Unsaid," Sundeep Malladi, The Badger Herald (UW-Madison), October 27, 2005: Dedicated to the pursuit of truth, universities create forums for discussion. According to many, this basic foundation shook on June 20, 2005, when the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals gave universities the right to censor student newspapers.
• "Three briefs urge Supreme Court to hear ‘Hosty v. Carter’ case," Kim Peterson and Evan Mayor, Student Press Law Center, October 20, 2005:  More than 30 groups are represented in three briefs filed this week urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal in the Hosty v. Carter case.
• "Assault on College Press," Harvey Silverglate, The National Law Journal, October 17, 2005: If the 7th Circuit opinion stands, student newspapers could quickly become house organs, like alumni magazines, rather than independent forums of news and opinion. The independent student press at public colleges and universities would all but vanish, and not only in the Midwest. As the certiorari petition portends, the 7th Circuit’s opinion “threatens to restrict substantially the freedom of expression on college and university campuses throughout the nation.”
• "College newspapers fight for rights," Erin France, The Daily Tar Heel, September 22, 2005: The U.S. Supreme Court received a petition Tuesday to review a case from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that could affect free press policies on college campuses nationwide.
• "Supreme Court asked to take up college-press case," David L. Hudson, Jr., First Amendment Center, September 20, 2005: The U.S. Supreme Court could define and clarify how much First Amendment protection college and university newspapers possess — if it accepts review in the highly watched case Hosty v. Carter.
• "Wronging student rights," Greg Lukianoff, The Boston Globe, September 3, 2005: As summer ends and college students return to campus, a number of dreadful court decisions may cause them to wonder if their rights have taken a permanent vacation.
• "Free Speech Groups Worry ‘Hosty’ Ruling Will Scale Back Students’ First Amendment Rights," Sean Hill, Student Press Law Center, June 23, 2005: Media and free speech groups warn that a decision this week by a federal appeals court could have damaging consequences for free speech on college and university campuses.
• "Free Press 101," Erich Wasserman, Arbiter Online, December 1, 2003