University of Virginia Library

Stifling The Student Press

College publications are always under
a certain amount of pressure from administration
officials to refrain from printing
anything which might "bring discredit"
to the institution. Usually this pressure is
gentle, and involves no more than assuring
that the publication does not blatantly
transcend the bounds of good taste.

As far as the reporting of news and
opinion is concerned, college administrations
generally allow the newspaper a great deal of
freedom. Officials themselves are constantly
coming under criticism by the student press.
This is as it should be. There is a danger,
however, when student legislative groups
get into the scene and take action such as
that of the Provisional Student Assembly
at George Mason College, which recently
withdrew funds from the student newspaper,
the Gunston Ledger, for no better
reason than because the paper prints national
as well as campus news.

The main duty of a college newspaper
is to cover campus events, of course, but
there is also a great responsibility for any
news publication to interest itself in events
off the immediate grounds of the institution,
particularly when these events are of interest
to the students.

The Cavalier Daily, in increasing its coverage
of national events this year, has come
under a certain amount of criticism. The
Student Council at the University has no
control over the funds allocated to The
Cavalier Daily by the Student Activities
Committee, and as a result cannot stifle
the coverage in this newspaper as the George
Mason assembly has done. We like to feel
that our Council is enlightened enough that
it would not take such action even if it
had the power.

The George Mason Student Assembly, in
withdrawing funds from the newspaper, has
overstepped its bounds. Such a group should
not have power to suspend a student publication
just because members do not agree
with the views of the newspaper. Whether
this action was the result of the coverage
of news or the editor's liberal bias is unimportant.

The Gunston Ledger is a good newspaper.
It is better, we suspect, than the current
student government at George Mason College.

DKS