Student Newspaper Locked Out

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 12, 2010

Student Newspaper Locked Out Staff of newspaper has their office lock changed without notification, have to call for permission to gain access, slowing down production of issues; press lawyer says censorship is illegal.

WARWICK, RI -- For more than two weeks, the Community College of Rhode Island's student newspaper, The Unfiltered Lens, has been locked out of their office, and the staff says it is time for them to seek alternative, external action to solve the issue.

According to The Unfiltered Lens Chief Executor, David M. Gannon Jr., the Student Government President of the Knight Campus, Manna Muhuri, arranged to have all the locks to student club offices changed in the Student Union. There was a notice posted on all club doors to remove all belongings by August 6, 2010, but the locks were changed on July 29, 2010.

"We have tried to solve this issue without going outside the college. I have sent e-mails stating that we are willing to relocate our office, but there has not been any response" stated Gannon, "We even went as far as filing a formal grievance with the Assistant Dean of Student Success, but heard nothing back."

Muhuri arranged for the lock change, and intended to remove the student newspaper from their office, and relocate them to their fire hazardous editorial office.

Muhuri told the staff that he is removing The Unfiltered Lens from their publication office because he "needs a place to bring his people in" although student government already has two offices, Gannon said.

Gannon said security and administration would not issue him a new key, because the student government president would not sign off on it, even though the college is the sole proprietor of all space allocation on campus. This now means that the newspaper staff is only permitted to access the office only at the pleasure of campus security.

Gannon went on to say that not only did the student government president change the locks to the offices, but now he is looking for a quid pro quo, approaching such members of The Unfiltered Lens Editorial Board as Gannon and Jim Brady, Interim Editor-in-Chief, stating, "if I leave you alone, will you leave me alone?"

Adam Goldstein, attorney advocate of the Student Press Law Center --- a nonprofit organization located in Arlington, V.A., that provides legal information to student media --- said that locking the newspaper out of their office and not reissuing them a key is a form of censorship and is illegal.

"Evicting a student newspaper from its offices is an abuse of a power that a student body president doesn't even possess. But offering to barter it back in exchange for positive coverage is a constitutional violation, and one the school should answer for. The school should discontinue this course of action immediately," stated Goldstein.

Gannon believes that this type of censorship is caused by a college's administration wanting their college to only have a positive public image. "Especially," according to Gannon, "considering when the newspaper was getting started, a certain administrator wanted us to sign a waiver stating that we would only report the positive generated news, which we did not."

Gannon stated, "News is news. You cannot determine whether or not it is positive or negative, it just is, and as a NEWSpaper, it is our job to report it."

"We are proud of how far the newspaper has come in such a short amount of time, and look forward to our continued growth. This paper was founded by students looking to have a voice. We take great pride in what we do, and mind you, it is all done voluntarily," Gannon said.

Contact:

David M. Gannon Jr. Chief Executor The Unfiltered Lens (401) 825-1215 dgannonjr@gmail.com theunfilteredlens@gmail.com www.theunfilteredlens.org

Jim Brady Interim Editor-In-Chief The Unfiltered Lens (401) 825-1215 mmeursault@atheist.com theunfilteredlens@gmail.com www.theunfilteredlens.org

Adam Goldstein Attorney Advocate Student Press Law Center (703) 807-1904 www.splc.org

The Unfiltered Lens was founded in 2007 and is the student-run, student-edited newspaper at the Community College of Rhode Island, which serves all four campuses, located in Providence, Lincoln, Newport, and Warwick.