A University of Memphis committee was found to have violated the First Amendment when it cut $25,000 from the student newspaper’s budget, according to a report released by U of M president Shirley Raines’ executive assistant David Cox.
After the investigation, the paper received the full $25,000 in student activity fees back. Earlier this year, the Student Activity Fee Allocation Committee voted to slash the Helmsman’s budget by one-third. Cox’s report found that members of that committee based their decision to cut funding on the paper’s content, which violated the student journalists’ First Amendment rights.
Read the full story by Helmsman reporter Michelle Corbet here. For background on the cuts and other issues facing student reporters at the U of M, read this Flyer cover story.
