Lawyering up
While media law attorneys perform a valuable, and unfortunately, all-too-necessary, function, there is a right way and wrong way to use them. 3/31/2008

"Bong Hits" and the Court
First they went after sex. Now it's drugs. Student speech about Rock n' Roll must understandably be quaking in its boots. 7/11/2007

Online Pacemaker Finalists: Feedback from the judges
Judges in the ACP Online Pacemaker contest provide feedback on this year's group of entries and finalists. 6/12/2007

Washington Student Free Press Law FAQ
In January 2007, Washington became the first state to consider legislation that would provide such legal protection to both its college and high school student media. HB 1307 would be the most comprehensive student free press law in the country. 2/1/2007

Plagiarism vs. copyright
"Plagiarist!" It is an accusation that strikes fear in the hearts of students, academics, journalists, authors and presidential candidates alike. 12/5/2006

Navigating the "double super secret background" minefield
Given that at least some anonymous sourcing is here to stay, it's worth taking a few moments to consider how to do so while minimizing your legal risk. 5/31/2006

Living in a post-Hosty world
College students in three states - Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin - are now at risk of having a censorship standard applied to them that the Supreme Court said back in 1988 allows grade school officials to censor a a student newspaper that discusses the "existence of Santa Claus." 3/2/2006

College station gives "average" Iraqi voices global reach
Even with all the media attention that's been given to the ongoing war in Iraq, a group of students at Swarthmore College felt there was something missing, something they could do that would make the coverage more complete, something that would make a difference. 2/23/2006

Don't be the punchline of an April Fools' mistake
While America's student media have a long history of poking fun, too often the "joke" ends up being on the student publication itself, with student media staff targeted by angry readers - and in a few cases, their lawyers. 2/1/2006

Staff refuses to publish unless adviser is reinstated
Editors at The Dolphin, a student-run newspaper at LeMoyne College, are refusing to publish copies of their paper until a dispute with the school's administration is resolved. The two parties appear no closer to a settlement, while the LeMoyne community waits and wonders when they will once again get their news. 1/5/2006

Dark days for college media: Lane v. Simon
While Hosty v. Carter plays out in the courts, another case has crept out of the midwest that could - if allowed to stand - deliver a second, serious body blow to press freedom on American public college and university campuses. 12/19/2005

Tulane paper Web site unites staff, students scattered by Katrina
The Tulane Hullabaloo went back online last week, trying to provide students at Tulane University yet another step back to the lives they knew before the devastation of Hurricane Katrina affected the New Orleans college. 10/5/2005

Elaborate Iraq-war hoax stuns staff, readers
Being rejected for a job or an internship happens to everybody at some point, no matter the profession. But Krystal Grow was not about to silently sulk about her latest rejection. 8/30/2005

The Hosty v. Carter decision: What it means
On June 20, 11 judges sitting on the federal Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals did what none of us in the student media community obviously hoped they would do: they potentially gave college administrators in three states the same devastating censorship key handed to their high school counterparts 17 years earlier. 7/6/2005

For Web editors: All about OCILLA
Under the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA), online "service providers" will not be financially responsible for acts of copyright infringement committed by others if they take certain steps and adhere to some specific - and somewhat complex - rules. 5/31/2005

Internship rejection column creates national stir
Being rejected for a job or an internship happens to everybody at some point, no matter the profession. But Krystal Grow was not about to silently sulk about her latest rejection. 5/13/2005