1st Amendment battle at ICC

I knew that it was just a matter of time before the administration at Illinois Central College would seize control of the student newspaper.

It has been slightly more than a month since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that colleges and universities have the right to censor student newspapers if the papers are printed by the college.

ICC could hardly wait to grab control over the student newspaper, the Harbinger. I used to work for the Harbinger, and the paper would occasionally butt heads with the administration over issues of content. They wanted the paper to be safe, inoffensive and basically a promotional rag.

We had other ideas.

Long-time faculty adviser Mike Foster retired last year. Mike is a man of integrity and ethics and would never had gone along with this power grab.

Kudos to Journal Star reporter Elaine Hopkins for catching ICC Vice President John Avendano in an apparent lie. He said the new handbook giving “veto power” to the faculty adviser was just a draft. But both student editors say new adviser Michael Loyd Grey presented the handbook at their first meeting with them and said it was a done deal.

My two cents: You can scratch Michael Loyd Grey off my list of journalism teachers who possess a shred of integrity.

There’s little control the public has over ICC. Quick, without looking it up, can anyone name ONE member of the college’s elected board of trustees? I thought not.

Perhaps it’s time for someone who trusts the 1st Amendment to be the best policy policy to run for the ICC board. There are plenty of Mike Foster’s former students out there. Maybe one of two might want to try their hand at public service.