Constitution v. SUU policy

The First Amendment guarantees Americans the right to free press, but President Steven D. Bennion has said SUU policy can deny that right to students. He said it in front of about 50 students at the Sept. 26 SAFE meeting, but he said he didn’t know what policy it was, where it could be found, or even what it said.
After a search of SUU policies and procedures online , we have found the policy to which we believe Bennion was referring. Although it was set in 1994 and student media on campus have changed dramatically, the administration evidently believes the policy carries more weight than the landmark 2001 federal court ruling in Kincaid v. Gibson (236 F.3d 342, en banc), which the Journal cited in the Sept. 23 editorial.
We believe Bennion is wrong. We again assert our right to be free of any control from the administration or any organization that may be set up in the future.
The policy we think Bennion was referring to is the bylaws of the Steering Council of the University Journal. Under that policy the Journal is not controlled by students but is edited by the director of publications for SUU.
The only student positions mentioned in these bylaws are two associate editors and an ad manager. The policy dictates that $4 per student in fees will be given to the Journal each quarter, and various departments supply stipends as well.
The present Journal is nothing like the one mentioned in the policy. The editor is now a student, as are two associate editors, an ad manager, seven additional editors and paid senior staff writers and photographers. It receives $6 per student a semester in student fees and does not receive “stipends” from any department on campus.
If the Journal were to operate under the guidelines set forth in these bylaws, it could not publish this editorial as it is dictated that printed opinions are to be of individual students and not the newspaper as a whole.
We believe it is grossly inappropriate for the administration to pick and choose which bylaws it will abide by. Furthermore, we disagree with the administration’s interpretation of the policy.
While the policy does stipulate that a steering council will guide Journal policies, it clearly does not give the council right to control editorial content. Under the heading “Responsibilities of the Council,” the policy says the council will “hear and address complaints and criticism directed at the Journal which the editor is unable to ameliorate.” It in no way gives the council right to view the paper before printing or make decisions on content.
The administration’s interpretation of the bylaws blatantly ignores what we see as the most integral part of the document. According to the policy, “The council is unalterably opposed to censorship as prohibited by decree of the Supreme Court of the United States but agrees that editors have the right to exercise their judgment and to edit.”