From the Chronicle, Feb. 28, 2009
Student Newspaper and Student Government at Montclair State Will Separate
Attempts
to mediate the dispute between the student newspaper and the student
government at Montclair State University have failed, and the
institution’s president said on Wednesday that the university would
work with both groups “to achieve a formal separation of the two
organizations effective no later than July 1.”
The student government, which provides a large portion of the budget for The Montclarion, temporarily froze the newspaper’s funds
last month after the paper hired a lawyer to challenge the government’s
tendency to meet behind closed doors. The government later restored the funds pending mediation of the dispute. Those talks broke down this week.
The
president, Susan A. Cole, stressed in a written statement that the
decision to separate the two groups was “not an admonishment of either
organization or any individual students.” She added that the university
would “assure that The Montclarion has adequate funds to
publish for the remainder of this academic year,” regardless of any
action taken by the student government. —Charles Huckabee