The Sedalia Democrat
Travis McMullen
Students at Smith-Cotton High School opened the most recent issue of Tiger Tales, the student newspaper, to find a half page of white space on page 6 with a message that The Travisty, a regular column, had been pulled by the principal for “controversial issues.”
The column, written by senior Travis McMullen, criticized “emo kids,” an adolescent subculture characterized by a particular style of music and dress.
A few days before the paper was to be printed, McMullen met with Principal Todd Whitney and the paper’s adviser, Alicia Maggert, and was told that the column was being pulled, the student said.
In that meeting, McMullen said he was told, “We pulled it because we didn’t want controversy; we thought it was inflammatory.”
Maggert did not return several phone calls from The Democrat.
Whitney told the Democrat: “The article, in my opinion, could be inflammatory to a group of students. The principal also said that since Tiger Tales is a monthly publication, it was unfair to students to wait to respond.
"I think ... the people that it’s aimed toward need some equal opportunity,” Whitney said.
This is the first time that he has pulled something from the paper, Whitney said.
Whitney also said that the paper will give students the opportunity to respond to opinion pieces before they are published.
“Our goal will be to review the articles as early as possible to determine if other groups should have the opportunity to respond,” he said.
Under the 1988 Supreme Court decision Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, Whitney can censor the student paper. Student newspapers at public schools do not have always have full First Amendment protection, the decision holds.
Administrators have a lot of latitude to censor material under the law, said attorney Mike Hiestand, a legal consultant to the Student Press Law Center, a national advocacy organization.
Even though the administration is probably within its legal rights to censor writing, Hiestand said, “It’s an unfortunate lesson that I think the principal is conveying here. I think we have to get back to the notion that the First Amendment is important.”
McMullen said he is not upset that his column got censored; he is more worried about whether another version of The Travisty will appear.
“(The censorship) is remotely reasonable. Even though I don’t agree with it completely, I can see where he’s coming from,” McMullen said.
The Travisty tends to be a controversial — and popular — column.
“It wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t that inflammatory; we’ve published worse things before,” McMullen said. Last year, his column criticizing skateboarders generated responses to the paper.
McMullen said that he plans to continue writing for the paper.
“That’s just it. I don’t do more than one draft, and if he doesn’t like it the way it is, it won’t get printed. I hope the alternate viewpoints will tone mine down enough that it can be printed,” he said. “I have no intentions of editing it for content.”
http://www.sedaliademocrat.com/news/paper_3987___article.html/mcmullen_column.html
Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia is probably a lot like where I grew up. I worked on my student paper, and there was an instance I remember where our editor had called the school out for allowing students caught drinking to remain in National Honors Society (because they were the school darlings), even though it is explicitly against the charter. The adviser never batted an eye about the issue, though it was controversial, and he had to work every day with the teachers and administrators who had protected those kids.
The issue of disparaging a certain group is slightly different, and something students and teachers are all too aware of after Columbine and Jena. We retain our first amendment rights to the point at which they defame or threaten someone else’s right to live as they see fit.
Times like this are actually great lessons for young journalists. You grow up and leave a school setting, but you will still be edited for content if you take on any divisive issues. Your editorial board will be taking their business relationships into account in their decisions. And it’s a bigger lesson about civic responsibility and responsibly exercising one’s rights.
It seems like Smith-Cotton had an opportunity for discussion and a broader education with this issue that they didn’t take, and when you pay for special programs it’s important that it’s really providing the experience it was intended to. Otherwise, it becomes just a fancy way to babysit. In order to keep valuable programs around and thriving we need to say: yes, these programs are fun and hands-on, but they are also the best way to prepare our students, and we’re utilizing them to the full extent.
