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Last Updated: 12/2/2009

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Gender: Female
Status: Single
Age: 28
Sign: Capricorn

City: Hammond
State: Indiana
Country: US
Signup Date: 1/5/2006

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Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Hosty v. Carter

Dear Student Press Editor:

We are writing to inform you and thereby raise your awareness of some critical legal issues that may be likely to have a profound effect on you and your status as student journalists.

We want to first mention the lawsuit, Hosty v. Carter, 412 F.3d 731 (7th Cir. 2005), the result of which was to point out certain changes in the legal climate surrounding student journalism at large. To further illustrate our point, we are including several links to pertinent information, especially if you are located in the 7th Judicial Circuit, which includes Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Since the majority of you receiving this letter are not as directly affected at this time by these developments, you may surmise that these issues will not have any impact on your efforts, nor will they give you much cause for alarm. However, it is our intention to sound a clarion call for those of you outside of our district, since there is every indication that the broad tendency is for universities to continue muzzling those publications it does not find palatable or conducive to the maintenance of its public image.

The other purpose of this missive is to inform you of three cases which continue to battle the trend in higher education within the 7th Circuit, the outcomes of which could impact and reverse the trend of administrative interference by universities nation-wide.

Whether you see your organization as being directly affected by this or not, nonetheless, a collegial solidarity amongst student journalists nation-wide is critical to insure the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution. Unless and until student journalists of every stripe and from every campus raise their voices in opposition to this frightening trend of censorship, the rights now enjoyed by those of you who are yet unaffected are in danger of becoming marginalized.

Thirty years of Supreme Court decisions have supported student journalists ability to report the news as they find it, in an open and accurate manner. The current developments in the law have already shut down more than one student newspaper and threaten to spread that deleterious influence further yet.

Please take special notice of the applicability of the information to your particular publication: it may surprise and shock you to learn that you may not be immune from prior restraint and censorship. If this gives you cause for concern, which we believe it should, we ask that you consider joining your voice with ours in opposition to this Orwellian trend towards censorship and administrative control within our colleges and universities.

We would ask that you do everything within your power to support the rights of students everywhere, to have a voice within their college/university communities; and to spotlight the significance of these issues with special emphasis in your future editions.

We thank you for taking the time to examine these issues and hope to hear you make your voices heard in the near future.

Sincerely,

David Chambers & Stephanie N. Blahut

Blahut v. Oden (Case 05-C-4989) U.S. District Court (7th Circuit)

Complaint: http://www.sams-corner.com/SpImages/Complaint_08292005.pdf

Motion to Dismiss: http://www.sams-corner.com/SpImages/02102006_Motion.pdf

July/August 2004 Phoenix: http://www.sams-corner.com/Images/august2004.pdf

Regular updates posted to: http://www.myspace.com/freedom_of_speech

Porche, et al v. Oden, et al (Case ..1:02-cv-07707)

Complaint: http://www.sams-corner.com/SpImages/Complaint_amend_06122003.pdf

Response: http://www.sams-corner.com/SpImages/Motion_Response_11032005.pdf

Reconsideration: http://www.sams-corner.com/SpImages/motion_reconsideration_10072004.pdf

Docket: http://www.sams-corner.com/SpImages/Docket_PorcheHosty.doc

Porche, et al v. Kennedy, et al (Case.. 04-C-8039)

Complaint: http://www.sams-corner.com/SpImages/comlaint_plantiff_12132004.pdf

Hosty v. Carter, 412 F.3d 731 (7th Cir. 2005)

Valuable sources & documents

College Freedom: http://collegefreedom.org/gsu.htm

Student Law Press Center: http://splc.org/

Freedom of Speech: http://www.myspace.com/freedom_of_speech

The Public Forum List: Public colleges and universities in the 7th Circuit that have gone on record supporting student press freedom http://www.splc.org/legalresearch.asp?id=91

4:15 PM

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Thursday, March 30, 2006

Editorial Board Positions opening

The Chronicle is opening up all editorial board positions for the 2006-2007 school year. Openings include managing editor, news editor, entertainment editor, sports editor, production manager, business manager, chief copy editor, and senior photo editor. These positions are all paid. Experience is a plus but not required.
If interested, submit a cover letter and resume to chronicle_eic@yahoo.com.