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Student Journalists Decry QU's Proposed Policy

The campus newspaper is scheduled to get new publishing rules in January. The news staff believes the proposed restrictions threaten press freedom.

Student journalists at Quinnipiac University are calling for a new policy on student media following a move by school officials to control advertisements in the student newspaper, The Quinnipiac Chronicle.

University officials are proposing a change to the student handbook that would give the Dean of Students the right to reject ads in school-funded media, a plan Chronicle editors are calling a blow to press freedom on campus.

The proposed change, among other things, specifically bans ads promoting non-Quinnipiac degree programs, off-campus housing and the use of alcoholic beverages, said Editor-in-Chief Joseph Pelletier.

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Pelletier said Dean of Students Manuel Carreiro presented a draft of the policy to him and general manager Tara McMahon on Friday and told them it would be implemented Jan. 1.

"It's disturbing that the university feels it can manipulate our advertising content without considering the free press implications," Pelletier said. "It's surprising, especially at a school with an increasingly recognized school of journalism."

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Chronicle staffers said they are particularly worried about a line that would let the Dean of Students office "prohibit any individual or category of advertising in University-funded student media at their discretion."

Quinnipiac spokesman John Morgan said the university would have no comment.

The policy comes after the administration told the school-subsidized paper in October to pull ads for off-campus housing. The paper refused, saying it would mean a major financial loss. Pelletier said the Chronicle is in the middle of a contract with an off-campus housing company and has been running similar ads for 80 years.

Pelletier said Carreiro offered no clear reason why the university did not want the ads published, except that he had concerns over landlord quality and student safety.

Frank LoMonde, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, an advocacy group for student First Amendment rights, said the proposed policy would be unconstitutional at a public university, but Quinnipiac is not subject to First Amendment standards because it is private.

However, he said, "You have to ask yourself whether 'what we can get away with' is really the standard we want our educational institutions aspiring to."

LoMonde worries that the policy – by taking a significant number of potential advertisers off the table – will undermine the economic health of the newspaper, making it more dependent on subsidies from the university and "more easily influenced by pressure from the institution."

"We hope that the university's agenda is not to weaken the paper, but unfortunately this school has not earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to freedom of speech," LoMonde said.

This is not the first time Quinnipiac has been at odds with student journalists. In 2007, Chronicle editors clashed with the administration over a policy that prevented them from publishing a story on the newspaper's website before it appeared in print.

Officials said the policy was meant to protect the university from libel claims; students argued it kept them from reporting breaking news. The editor at the time said officials threatened to fire him if he continued to publicly criticize the policy.

The university rankled free press advocates again in 2008 when it threatened to shut down the campus chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for cooperating with the Quad News, an independent online student newspaper. Former Chronicle staffers launched the publication in response to increasing restrictions at the school-sponsored paper.

University officials at the time accused the Quad News of using SPJ as a cover to gain access to university space and resources. Quad News editors denied the accusation and said the administration was making their job difficult by limiting access to university sources.

 Pelletier would not comment on past events but said the university has been "extremely student-media friendly" in the last few years.

 "We've had a really good relationship with public officials, with the athletics department. Everything's been running smoothly," Pelletier said. "When something like this happens, I'm taken aback."

Quinnipiac senior Jeremy Beck, a biomedical sciences major from Cheshire, said the paper is a student-run organization and students should be making the decisions as they would in the real world.

"I guess I can see why they don't want them (running off-campus housing ads) because they want students to live on campus.  But I think that should be up to the students," he said. "We should know what opportunities are out there."

 Pelletier said the student handbook currently has no policy regarding student media on campus, giving the administration "unlimited regulatory power." He said he is hoping to discuss a more comprehensive policy.

"My sense is that the vast majority of the Quinnipiac community feel a moral obligation to uphold First Amendment rights, despite the fact that it isn't a legal obligation," Pelletier said. "The student handbook should have a policy that reflects that."

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