More than ever, student journalists must be on the lookout for censorship
In 2019, FIRE released “Under Pressure: The Warning Signs of Student Press Censorship,” a report documenting FIRE’s advocacy for student journalists’ rights and the threats they face. With over two decades spent defending campus free expression, FIRE has seen firsthand that student journalists are often the immediate line of defense against administrations intent on violating student and faculty rights and sometimes, they pay the price for it.
Today, for Student Press Freedom Day, we’re revisiting some of the student press cases FIRE had fielded since the report’s release and the warning signs they illustrate to remind student journalists how to identify, and stay vigilant against, potential censorship. (For more information about Student Press Freedom Day, see the Student Press Law Center’s list of events and resources, and join us today at 1:30 p.m. ET for a panel discussion about studen
Muslims in Eastern Hainan, China, Report Growing Persecution
25 Feb 2021
Voice of America News (VOA) reported on Wednesday the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is targeting a new Muslim community for persecution, similar to the Uyghurs of Xinjiang province: the Utsuls, a much smaller group who live primarily on the tropical resort island of Hainan.
VOA said roughly 10,000 Utsuls living in Hainan are being subjected to China’s “Sinicization of Islam” program, which essentially means using pressure tactics, intimidation, incarceration, and outright torture to “deprogram” them from their religion and teaching them to view the CCP and its dictatorial leader, Xi Jinping, as the highest authorities in the universe.
Cassie Conklin is asking questions.
She rehabbed Frostburg State’s student newspaper into a relentless university watchdog.
Now they’re watching her.
Cassie Conklin used to stuff crumpled up copies of the student newspaper, left for trash, in her shoes.
“The Bottom Line was so lacking that my partner and I would take whole stacks of them to dry our boots.”
But Conklin doesn’t want to disparage the former journalists at Frostburg State University’s independent student reporting outlet.
“I just think there wasn’t a lot of engagement with the newspaper. It’s not like people were coming to the newspaper with tips.”
Photographer captures river otter trio hunting in Pennsylvania stream: Take a look
Updated Feb 22, 2021;
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While the aquatic mammal remains extremely elusive, more Pennsylvanians are getting glimpses of them.
Sarah Lindgren, park manager at Kettle Creek State Park, near Renovo in Clinton County, had one of the most recent encounters February 19 along an icy and snowy Kettle Creek in the state park. It was an extended encounter and Lindgren had her camera with her to capture photos of the trio of river otters hunting along the creek.
The 3 otters almost certainly are the result of the Pennsylvania River Otter Reintroduction Project, headed by Thomas Serfass, professor of wildlife ecology at Frostburg State University, from 1982-2004.
These Are the Worst Colleges for Free Speech, According to The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)
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Salem radio host Dennis Prager has said sending your kids to college these days is like playing Russian roulette with their values. You take a huge chance on the version of your child that returns, so to speak. And that’s largely due to the indoctrination and assault on free speech pervasive on college campuses.
Thanks to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, we now know 2021 s 10 worst schools when it comes to free speech. Each year, hundreds of students and faculty members come to FIRE for help when their individual rights are threatened, states FIRE s introduction to the list. Many of these cases are quietly resolved. Many more are resolved not so quietly. But the cases you’ll read about below are the ones that went kicking and screaming right onto this list.