CUA College Republicans Oppose First Amendment on Campus -

By MaggieMae Dethlefsen

Student newspapers often find themselves on the front lines of tension. Unlike professional news outlets, they must navigate the dual pressures of maintaining independence while operating under university structures and budgets. When stories are controversial, student journalists can face enormous pressure from both the administration and their own classmates to avoid certain topics in order to “keep the peace” and not “step on anyone’s toes.” This was a recent experience of The Tower here on campus when sending a reporter to an event for College Republicans.

On October 21, The Tower sent a reporter to the Death Penalty Jubilee Debate hosted by the College Republicans club here on campus. When our writer first showed up at the event, which was advertised and confirmed to be open to the public, we were told that they could not collect quotes from the night in writing or by recording. After being informed of this policy once at the event, our reporter left the room and was followed out by another member of the club to have it repeated to them for a second time. This prohibition appears to violate the CUA recording policy, which states that “This policy does not apply to the recording of town halls, conferences, or other public events hosted by the University or event sponsors.”

This portion of the policy says that it is not applicable to student organizations which are considered an event sponsor. The recording policy would allow our reporter to have collected a voice recording of the event that night in order to be able to accurately portray the participants of the debate that night. In addition, it also means that the club could never prohibit our writers from collecting quotes.

The College Republicans’ actions also explicitly go against the spirit of the First Amendment right which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This right gives the press, even student press, the right to be able to attend public events and be able to report on them to our full capacity, which includes collecting quotes from the event itself. It also means that at a public event of any kind, it is considered to have no reasonable expectation of privacy, and the reporters can report and quote on anything that is said at the event.

This incident mirrors broader issues facing journalists today. Across the U.S., news outlets are under increasing pressure from political figures, corporations, and online audiences who seek to influence or punish certain narratives or not to cover specific events. We can see this specifically if we look at Indiana University and how they have been restricted in the type and format of news they are able to write and publish for their community. We hope that with our own university and student organizations that we can come together to promote an environment of welcoming the press and one in which students feel free to express themselves.