Central Washington University: Administrators Steal Newspapers in Response to Coverage of University Budget Cuts
Cases
Central Washington University
Case Overview
FIRE Victory closed
In April 2022, two Central Washington University administrators threw away stacks of student newspaper The Observer to prevent prospective students who were visiting campus from seeing a story about university budget cuts. On April 25, FIRE wrote to CWU explaining that this confiscation constituted not only theft, but also First Amendment viewpoint-based discrimination — “an egregious form” of censorship. After FIRE’s letter, CWU apologized to The Observer.