College Newspapers Protest Action at Univ. of Southern California

    Several college newspapers throughout the country today ran an editorial criticizing the University of Southern California for refusing to reinstate the editor of the student newspaper, the Daily Trojan.
    An administrator at the university recently denied the reappointment of Zach Fox as editor of the daily newspaper even though the newspaper staff supported Fox.
    According to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Michael L. Jackson, vice president for student affairs, said he denied Mr. Fox's reapplication for the job because Mr. Fox wanted to drastically change the duties of the editor in chief. Instead of overseeing the daily production of the newspaper, Mr. Jackson said, Mr. Fox wanted to spend more time reorganizing the paper and the way it was managed."
    According to the Chronicle article, Fox replied that he "had made it clear in his application that he would share the daily management duties with an additional managing editor by creating a new position."
    After Fox resigned in protest of the action, he supported Jeremy Beecher, the newspaper's editorial director, for the editor's post. Beecher was approved by the university media board, but several student journalists at the California school -- and across the country -- believe the refusal to reinstate Fox was an attack on press freedom.
    "Our society relies on its newspapers to check powerful individuals and institutions," the editorial reads in part. "An administration-controlled student paper poses the same threat to an academic community that a state-controlled press would to a nation; oversight limits the press's ability to act as a watchdog and prevent misuse of authority."
    Editor & Publisher has an article about the dismissal, including the text of the editorial that was published in leading college papers. You can read the article here.
    Here is the Chronicle web site, but you may need a password for access to the article.