Gates can serve as entryways to new worlds or as locked barriers. Passing through Berkeley’s Sather Gate each morning signaled my entrance to the ASNE Institute, a world where light was shed on the First Amendment and student press law. But ironically the gate once served as a barrier to student free speech.
Berkeley President Robert G. Sproul banned on-campus political discussion during the 1950s. Faculty members were required to recite a loyalty oath or risk losing their jobs. Since Sather Gate marked the entrance to the university, students were forced to gather outside the gate to protest.
Many schools have their own Sather Gates that represent barriers to student voices. Sometimes these gates are self-created.
In a 2005 survey of high school students commissioned by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, more than one-third thought the First Amendment went “too far” in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said that newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval.
Joe Byrne, an ASNE fellow and former reporter, stressed the importance of the First Amendment to his students, but at first they didn’t embrace their rights. "It was almost anathema to the students to have their own voice,” Byrne said. “It took one and a half to two years for them to realize I wasn't going to censor them.”
The Knight study also noted that some educators were failing to give students an appreciation of First Amendment rights. It’s no wonder. In some communities dissent against the popular opinion can be loud and cost teachers their jobs. Without training, teachers are left to fend for themselves and hope for the best.
“I didn’t do any First Amendment rights lessons with my students,” ASNE fellow Amy Kushner said. “I had no experience with journalism. I could only teach what I knew.”
Even professional experience doesn’t always help with the specifics of student press law. Byrne dealt with First Amendment issues frequently as a reporter, but he still found ASNE training invaluable. "I didn’t know the Tinker standard… I wish I had done this program when I first started."
Understanding the law is only the first challenge for advisers. ASNE fellow Amy Burton teaches her students that ethics and student press law go hand in hand. Instead of imposing rules about what they can print, she encourages her students to question the intent of their writing.
“Sometimes students or teachers will march into a principal’s office and demand that 'we have First Amendment rights,” but they haven’t thought of the ethics of the story,” ASNE fellow Amy Burton said. “Sometimes principals have been burned.”
When a student submitted a letter to the editor about abortion, Burton’s journalism class questioned the point of the article and how it fit into the paper’s mission. Ultimately, the students decided the letter was not well argued and decided not to publish it.
Her students were given the tools to make informed ethics decisions and allowed to use them. “It was really cool that they came and pulled it themselves… it wasn’t me,” Burton said.
Unfortunately, not all journalism teachers can spend two weeks in ASNE adviser heaven learning how to become informed advocates for their students. Training often isn’t available at the county or district level, and new advisers are sometimes forced to make their own education a last priority. Finding a support network is essential, whether it’s from other advisers, state and national journalism organizations or resources like the Student Press Law Center.
As I watch Berkeley students speak out for political and social causes inside Sather Gate, I’m grateful for those who struggled for the rights guaranteed by a free and democratic society. Although the path may not be easy, ASNE fellows can now help open gates for a new generation of student voices.