“If living today, President Lincoln would say: ‘You can fool some of the people, some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. Unfortunately, Jews will fool Americans forever.'”

-Letter to the Editor, “Jews Manipulate America” Daily Illini

This anti-Semitic letter was published on Jan. 22 and accused people of Jewish descent of harboring terrorism.

Letters, e-mails and phone calls across the state – and even the world – were pouring in to the paper that published it, The Daily Illini, the University of Illinois’ student newspaper.

Offended readers demanded the university chancellor, Nancy Cantor, fire the editor in chief and disband the newspaper.

And administration turned the other cheek.

Actually, Cantor by law could take no action – The Daily Illini is independent from the university – as college newspapers are protected by freedom of speech rights included in the First Amendment.

Lawsuits over the years have challenged those rights; the most recent of which deals with the censorship of a student newspaper, the Innovator, at Governors State University.

The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled in favor of the student journalists April 10.

The attorney general’s office, which represented Governors State during the lawsuit, filed a motion Monday asking the circuit court to rehear the case.

“I think it’s going to be unsuccessful, ultimately only prolonging this at the expense of students and taxpayers in Illinois,” said Mark Goodman, executive director of Student Press Law Center. “The fact the attorney general’s office decided they want to go back to reject that ruling is mind boggling.”

The law center signed an amecus or “friend of the court” brief earlier this year to represent the student journalists who previously had no representation.

The Hosty v. Carter ruling applied to a jurisdiction of Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana.

A spokesman from the Wisconsin Attorney General’s office said he could not comment what that office would do in a similar situation because the way a lawyer represents a case is so situation-specific.

Eastern administrators had previously said on several occasions regardless how the Governors State case ends, freedom of speech rights would be protected at Eastern.

This means The Daily Eastern News has protection to publish articles with profanity and editorials criticizing administration.

Governors State: An uphill battle

Eastern journalism professor James Tidwell said Governors State’s request to reconsider after a unanimous decision against them is very rare. He said the university is trying to obtain qualified immunity for former Dean of Student Affairs Patricia Carter.

The attorney general’s office defends that Carter was unaware censoring college newspapers was against the law, which is something Goodman finds perplexing.

The attorney general’s office did not return reporter phone calls.

Goodman said the office stated the law did not clearly define protected freedom of speech rights and that Carter had no reason to believe her actions were a violation of the First Amendment.

“I’m ticked off at this,” Goodman said. “I’m ticked off at the attorney general’s office because they are saying their case doesn’t deal with the First Amendment, but really this is a very important issue that is exactly what this case is about.”

Tidwell said the conflict is not whether or not the case is about censorship, but rather if the law is clearly established. Tidwell said the law is, and that immunity should not be granted.

Qualified immunity is granted to government officials when a law is not clearly defined before an infraction has occurred. Goodman said cases dealing with police officers are the most common usage of the immunity.

The students’ deadline to file a response to the attorney general’s petition is May 13. Goodman said he hopes the court will have a decision by September. If Carter and Governors State are ruled against this time, they will then be eligible to request the Supreme Court take on the case.

“They were slam dunked at the court (of appeals) and you could certainly use every cliche in the book that they are ‘beating a dead horse,'” Tidwell said. “But it’s really just a waste of money.”

Further censorship

Other schools, for the most part, are experiencing the same level of administrative support as Eastern and are not sweating a possible favorable decision toward censorship.

Lance Speere, general manager of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale’s Daily Egyptian, said every indication from administration states they support students’ rights.

“It’s not an issue here on campus. We have never gotten a call from anyone saying don’t print this or that,” said Speere, who is also the Illinois College Press Association president. “The administration understands how the current law stands.”

The U of I, as the letter to the editor shows, has an understanding administration, even though the Daily Illini is independent.

“The current administration has been superb, and it’s not because there hasn’t been pressure to be otherwise,” said Steve Helle, a professor of journalism at U of I who also provides legal council to the Daily Illini.

Matt Stensland, the editor in chief at the newspaper, said the paper received a lot of heat for running the letter. He said the chancellor has scheduled various freedom of speech and hate speech panel discussions.

A couple days after the letter ran, a meeting that included Cantor, some of the editors including Stensland, administrators and Jewish students was held to discuss the impact.

“At first, we had to explain to them it is totally our right to do this if we want to,” Stensland said. “They (Jewish students) were just very hurt, and when you’re that hurt you don’t look at the First Amendment: you say what is inside of you and everyone did that at the meeting.”

Most student journalists own the same freedom from administrative censorship as the Daily Illini.

Cory Schouten will be editor in chief at Indiana University’s Indiana Daily Student in the fall, and he said relationships with administration varies semester by semester. Currently, the administration will only talk to the Daily Student through a spokesperson.

Nevertheless, Schouten said the paper is safe because of a Board of Trustees charter that protects their freedom of speech.

Not all college newspapers have that luxury.

Molly Herridge, editor in chief of the Harbinger, the student newspaper at Illinois Central College, avoids dealing with the administration when possible and doesn’t know what would happen if censorship were allowed.

“With great power comes great responsibility. What comes with freedom of speech is great power,” she said. “(Administration) usually don’t have any problems with what we (printed) so far, but at the same time (we) try to be tactful with what we do.”

Eastern’s Student Government is watching out for students.

The Student Government, seeking more concrete assurance than administrative blessing, has passed a bill that clarifies all student freedom of speech rights, which could extend beyond student newspapers to what speakers or bands are brought to campus.

The bill has been sent to Eastern’s Board of Trustees, who have yet to take action.