The Ball State Daily News comes to campus every morning uncensored by faculty or administrators. According to a statement President Jo Ann Gora made at Tuesday's Journalism Alumni Awards Luncheon, it's going to stay that way.
Likewise, DN student media partners Newslink@9, WCRD, expo and Ball Bearings have been and will remain censorship-free.
In the history of Ball State University's student media programs, never has there been the threat of administrative censorship, and Gora's Tuesday remarks simply solidify the university's position - securing student freedom at this university for years to come.
And that's no small declaration considering the current state of student media.
As of the 7th U.S. Court of Appeals' June 2005 Hosty v. Carter decision, colleges in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin have the right to declare their newspapers non-public forums and subject them to administrative review prior to publication. The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal to the case in February, leaving many student media outlets open for censorship of the most blatant kind.
However, Gora's Tuesday remarks ensured that Ball State "recognizes and affirms the editorial independence and press freedom of all student-edited campus media. Student editors have the authority to make all content decisions."
Gora publicly declared that this university will not be one of the many schools falling victim to Hosty v. Carter - a benefit that reaches far beyond our newsrooms.
Universities need an established student media core, independent and uncensored, to bring fair and complete reporting of the university's events. Gora is showing great faith in this student body - as well as the ideals of the press - by upholding the long-standing tradition of free media.
Gora went on to suggest that students' freedom of expression goes beyond the student media into the entire student body. And we hope her statements will inform the decisions of administrators in the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics regarding the recent Facebook controversy.
"Our Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities clearly states there will be no censorship of students," Gora said.
Now it's time for administrators at other Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin schools to make similar declarations - Ball State students shouldn't be the only ones lucky enough to have this support.
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