In college, students have many opportunities to practice a lot of the same things they would be doing in the real world.
For instance, students have the chance to work with budgets, plan meetings or promote their causes as board members in various student organizations. If they mess up in these positions, their careers are not finished and their lives are generally not ruined. The college setting provides them with the chance to learn from their mistakes.
This was not the case in a recent incident at East Carolina University.
Two months ago, the East Carolinian, an independent, student-run newspaper, ran uncensored photos of a streaker who was arrested at a football game on its front page.
Needless to say, this photo caused a lot of controversy around the community and received criticisms from university officials.
While we agree with the ECU administration's conclusion that running this photo on the front page might have been "in very poor taste," the administration's proceeding actions were inappropriate.
A few weeks after this photo ran, Student Media Adviser Paul Isom, who oversaw and advised the school's newspaper, radio station and other publications, was dismissed from this position.
Fortunately, the Alligator is completely independent from UF. But this also means we bear even more responsibility for our actions, a situation we wholeheartedly accept.
Student editors should not have to worry about facing negative repercussions from their respective institutions from either a practical or a legal perspective.
As we have said, students should be able to learn from their mistakes while they have the opportunity. Isom could have used this incident as a powerful teaching moment for the staff of the East Carolinian. Instead, the ECU administration may have created a chilling effect for current and future editors at that paper as well as for student editors across the country.
From a legal standpoint, advisers to student-run newspapers usually are not day-to-day players in what goes in the paper. Instead, they serve to offer suggestions and criticisms after the fact. It would not have been his job to okay a decision to run the nude photos in the first place.
Also, considering that ECU is a public institution, all of its publications should be subject to First Amendment protection.
The ECU administration said in a statement that its decision to fire Isom was a "personnel matter" and not a First Amendment issue. The only thing Isom was told was that it "wanted to move in a different direction."
The fact that the administration is hiding behind this nonsensical reason makes this situation even worse. It knows that if it admits that it is firing him because of the pictures, he will actually be able to bring up his First Amendment protections.
