At Hampton University in Virginia, school administrators tookevery issue of the Oct. 22 Hampton Script — totaling 6,500papers — when the editors refused to print a letter from theuniversity's acting president, JoAnn Haybert, on the frontpage.
The Script ran a story describing more than 100 health-codeviolations the Virginia Board of Health found at the university,but when Haybert's response was printed on Page 3, heradministration took offense and pulled each issue — perhapsbecause it was Hampton's Homecoming edition and she did not want toembarrass the university as alumni returned.
Almost immediately, organizations like the National Associationof Black Journalists and the American Society of Newspaper Editors,raised their red flags.
The act is one of revolting censorship.
"We didn't print something where they wanted it, and they tookthe papers away," Talia Buford, editor of the Script, said in theHampton Roads Daily Press.
Luckily, the Ball State Daily News has not had to dealwith this kind of negative administrative pressure during thetenure of President Blaine Brownell. Though he's been chided andapplauded in print, he's never asked the Daily News tocompromise its journalistic integrity. He's never violated theFirst Amendment.
As the trustees searches for a succeeding president, they mustfind a candidate willing to accept the public-service role of thestudent press. The Daily News — and the Hampton Script— has an obligation to report the good, the bad and the ugly.Universities need presidents who understand that.
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