A university tries to squash freedom of the press
Daniel Payne - Assistant Editor •October 24, 2018
Sorry, the Constitution doesn’t work that way
The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh is attempting to squelch the First Amendment. The school is suing a reporter to stop him from publishing documents which the reporter legally obtained while working as a student journalist at the university; the student had made a disciplinary records request, and the school had inadvertently sent him unredacted copies of the records. It is those records that the university wishes to bury, by legal force if necessary.
What is in the records isn’t really important; indeed, the records themselves may be wholly unimportant. The important aspect of this whole affair is that the University of Wisconsin is attempting to trample the First Amendment, calling on the government to use prior restraint to muzzle freedom of the press. That is of great concern. The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that the government cannot censor the press except in extremely narrow circumstances, none of which has to do with a university’s disciplinary records.
https://www.thecollegefix.com/a-university-tries-to-squash-freedom-of-the-press/
