SPLC Reports on Boston College Newspaper Controversy

Check out what the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) reported Friday about the confiscation of 3,000 copies of an issue of the Boston College (BC) student newspaper calling freshman orientation “miserable.” University administrators at BC are calling the incident “a misunderstanding.”

Tom Wiedeman, editor of BC’s student publication The Heights, told SPLC, “[Calling orientation ‘miserable’] was supposed to be a joke...Right after that it says, ‘don’t worry, life in BC gets better.’” \

Rev. Joseph Marchese, director of the freshman orientation program, ordered the newspaper removed from newsstands and claimed some information in it “misdirected” students and parents about student life at BC.

Although Wiedeman told SPLC he is not pursuing legal action, he also is persevering in his efforts to make administrators understand that the discarding of student newspapers is a serious offense.

FIRE is currently investigating the matter further, so stay tuned to The Torch for updates.