ASNE Pulls Out of Hampton U. Over Confiscation
The American Society of Newspaper Editors today told Hampton University it was pulling from that campus its program training high school journalism teachers because “the action of the acting president of Hampton was in our view an assault on the First Amendment and the fundamental principles of a free press that this organization stands for,” ASNE President Peter Bhatia told Journal-isms.
Bhatia, who is executive editor of The Oregonian in Portland, was referring to the Oct. 22 confiscation of the 6,500-issue press run of the homecoming issue of the student newspaper, The Hampton Script, on orders of Acting President JoAnn Haysbert, who is the provost. She did so because the issue did not include a letter from herself on the front page, as she requested. The students instead placed the letter on page 3 with an alert to readers on page 1.
The issue was republished with the letter from the provost on page 1 in exchange for the formation of a task force on the future relationship of the administration and the student newspaper. The student editors accompanied the front-page letter with a large disclaimer stating that they were running it under protest.
ASNE would not want “to be affiliated with an institution that shows such a blatant disregard for the First Amendment,” Bhatia said.
The ASNE action, decided late last week but transmitted to Hampton officials today, Bhatia said, is the first concrete penalty the school has suffered since the confiscation. He said he made the decision along with Jeff Cohen, editor of the Houston Chronicle and chairman of the high school journalism committee, and the ASNE staff.
Although the provost’s action was met with a torrent of condemnation from journalists, funders mostly said they were waiting to see what would develop from the task force, which met again today.
Christopher Campbell, director of the journalism school and a member of the task force, said tonight he disagreed with ASNE’s decision.
“I think I understand why ASNE decided to do this, but I think it’s a mistake,” he told Journal-isms. “They feel like they needed to make a statement about what happened, but I think they’ve already made a statement, and so has everybody else. I think we’ll come out of this with an agreement where the students will have a newspaper where they have the editorial autonomy that they want.”
The program in question is part of the ASNE High School Journalism Initiative, which began in 2000 with a a $500,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, part of as much as $5 million overall that Knight said then it would spend on high school journalism programs in conjunction with ASNE.
Hampton was the only historically black college or university participating, Bhatia said, the only one that applied. Some $55,000 would have been spent at Hampton next summer, he said. The teachers come to the participating campuses from 47 states and the District of Columbia.
“The Institute is an intensive two-week summer newspaper journalism training program for high school teachers,” in the words of the ASNE Web site. “Teachers who have never advised a school newspaper but want to are encouraged to apply. Experienced teachers seeking to update their journalism skills are also welcome to apply. Most expenses are paid by the High School Journalism Program.”
Diana Mitsu Klos, director of the program, told Journal-isms that in the three years of the initiative, 554 teachers had been trained, of whom 129, or 23 percent, identified themselves as people of color. Some 35 teachers were trained at Hampton in the first year and 19 the third year. In the second year, the faculties of Hampton and the University of Maryland voted to train together on the Maryland campus, Klos said.
Next summer, Klos said she expects 160 teachers to be trained at the five remaining campuses: Kent State University in Ohio, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of South Florida at Tampa, the University of Texas at Austin, and Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C.
“We’re very pleased with the work that Hampton and the Scripps-Howard [journalism and communications] School have done over those three years,” she said. “We have high respect for the Scripps-Howard School and the students. It is our hope that ASNE as an organization can continue to work with the Scripps-Howard students on other projects.”
Though the situation at Hampton quieted down somewhat as the task force met, other campus newspapers weighed in.
- At Boston College, The Heights wrote in an editorial on Oct. 28:
“The Script does not fall under the school of journalism — a very strange fact considering it is a newspaper. Haysbert, as the paper’s publisher, claims that the Script is not actually a student newspaper, but a university publication. Perhaps this confusion over the newspaper’s status explains why Haysbert is so insistent on making it the official newsletter of the president’s office.
“BC has a similar publication in The Chronicle, which is printed by the office of public affairs. Here in Chestnut Hill, the difference is clearly notable. There is a place for the University to present ideas and news, and separate outlets for the students in both The Heights and The Observer – both of which are independent newspapers. This system embodies the essence of a free student press. Certainly, the administrators would not suggest that either group of editors look to the communications department, the president’s office, or the public relations office for advisement.
“BC students should consider the events at Hampton University and reflect on the value of an independent press.”
- At Florida A&M University, the Famuan wrote in an editorial on Nov. 5:
“A professional newspaper would never print a memorandum from its corporate office on the front page of the publication, even if it meant a reduction in funding, hostility toward the editorial staff or unjust punishment. Student journalists are placed in difficult positions every day but must remember they are training to one day become professional journalists in every aspect of the word. If Haysbert wrote a memorandum about a new program to recycle dust would The Hampton Script be forced to print that on page one, too?”
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