JournalismProject.com

Can you spell CENSORSHIP?

I began teaching a couple of years ago. I've done a lot of things in my life but nothing compares to teaching a bunch of wild young Bohemians. After teaching media part-time for a year, I was hired two semesters ago by Oxnard College, a community college located near the beach about 60 miles north of Los Angeles. I advise the student newspaper and teach various journalism and media courses. I love what I do. I love the students. I hate the beauracratic BS that comes from the administrators.

I replaced the long-time professor who retired, a real force to be wreckoned with who was known to take on the adminstration. They tried to kill the program two years ago, but he fought and won. I think when they hired me they thought they were getting a person with a strong pubic relations background who would turn the paper into a PR tool for the college.

In my first semester, the kids wrote an unfavorable story about the college. I was immediately called into the vice president's office and told that he and the president decided that I needed to form an advisory board to "read" the paper before it goes to print. This board would consist of an administrator. I told him in terms he'd understand (hell will freeze over first) that this was a violation of First Amendment rights. They backed off, temporarily. More would follow.

An edition with a front page story showing a photo of our run-down library next to the very modern library at another college in the district mysteriously disappeared from all the newstands; the president tells a group of students that the campus newspaper uses yellow journalism reporting; the TV version of the newspaper is censored by the vice president (all content must be approved by him).

Then the budget cut issue hits, as it always does. The president needs to cut some programs so what does she recommend first on the list? Journalism.

This is a statewide crisis. I conducted a study that looked at the vulnerable journalism programs across the state. The conclusion was obvious- when budget cuts hit the journalism program is cut. Faculty member after faculty member responded that the administration just doesn't like the student newspaper. With the exception of a few colleges with forward-thinking adminstrators who support press freedoms, the rest see the paper as "a thorn in their side" or "a headache."

Last year, I founded the Journalism Project, designed to restart defunct journalism programs or breathe life into troubled ones. I have answers that will save this program, and others in trouble. They're not interested.

My students are passionate rebels ready to fight the cause. The editor of the paper is a 20-year-old radical 60s enthusiast who already landed a full-time job as a reporter for the daily press in our county. He staged a sit-in in the president's office and a districtwide walk-out next week. We've been on CBS, numerous radio shows and in every daily press in the area including LA Times and VC Star.

Today, the students will meet with the president. She suggested they form a committee to deal with the problem. She also suggested they drive up to Sacramento to protest the governor's budget cuts. One student asked if they could borrow her new Lexus SUV to drive there. This is a common tactic- stall, keep them quiet until the semester ends in May, and make it all go away.

-Toni Allen, Professor of Journalism, Oxnard College