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By Ellis Smith Editor-in-Chief mail@ellissmith.com
On January 6, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt spoke to Congress following his election to a third term in office. He urged the assembly to enter what became known as World War II on the side of the British, in order to preserve what he referred to as the "Four Freedoms."
Near the end of his speech, Roosevelt said, "In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression--everywhere in the world."
He went on to list religious freedom, freedom from want and freedom from fear - but freedom of speech was first on his list.
Today, those in favor of freedom of speech - guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution - face an uphill battle those who only support free speech when they agree with the speech in question.
Jacob Lovell, in a sharply worded satirical critique of Greek Life last week, offended a large portion of the student body by attacking their traditions and institutions. He assembled every stereotype about Greek life into one article, asserting that each one was true of the majority of fraternities and sororities.
The SGA, led by President Alan Webster and former President Rob Kelly, voted the day after publication to end student funding for The West Georgian in response to this article, as well as for previous TWG articles deemed hurtful, inappropriate or divisive.
In a phone call, Webster said that he would not continue to provide student funds to a publication that publishes such "garbage," which accused his fellow Greeks and himself of being "rapists."
Webster said, "The job of the SGA is to unite campus, but all Jacob's article does is divide campus."
However, U.S. courts, in over 60 such cases, have found that even bombastic opinion articles like Lovell's are a protected form of speech.
According to the Student Press Law Center, "Student government officials are subject to the same First Amendment restraints as school administrators. For example, they cannot punish a paper's staff or advisor or withdraw a publication's funds for content-based reasons."
Courts have found that the First Amendment also specifically prevents school officials from withdrawing or reducing funding, withholding student activities fees or "any other action that is motivated by an attempt to control, manipulate or punish past or future content," according to the SPLC.
The SPLC has also found that in cases like Bazaar v. Fortune, Kincaid v. Gibson, and State Board for Community Colleges v. Olsen, courts have been "consistent in ruling that school officials and student government officials may not exercise the power of a private publisher over student publications simply because they provide financial support."
Though this evidence suggests that school officials are powerless to regulate an out-of-control newspaper, that is not the case - they are merely barred from regulating or punishing content, such as in this case.
School officials do retain the ability to regulate non-content based aspects of a publication. For example, school officials can review the financial records of its student media and prohibit staff hiring policies when they discriminate on the basis of race. But in this case, the recent SGA bill was prompted by neither of those issues.
The West Georgian will fight to prevent this and any form of censorship. The harm brought about by the resultant chilling effect on free speech will cause irreparable harm to the open exchange of ideas on campus, and damage the reputation of this university in ways no one can predict.
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