IU Professor Protesting Review Of Student Newspaper

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(BLOOMINGTON) - An Indiana University journalism professor says he’s penning a letter to the superintendent of the East Allen County Schools about what he says is a breach of first amendment rights.

Professor Jack Dvorak is the director of IU's High School Journalism Institute and says EACS officials went over the line when they drafted a policy giving prior review of any student newspaper to that school's principal.

Dvorak says his letter will urge administrators to scrap the policy, lest they become subjects of legal action. The policy was enacted after a student at Woodlan High School wrote a column questioning prejudicial treatment and beliefs against gay people, prompting principal Ed Yoder to appoint himself the publication's final editor and place journalism teacher Amy Sorrell on paid leave.

Dvorak says the debate over gay marriage in the statehouse means the Woodlan article meets a stipulation that articles have educational merit which was established in the supreme court's Hazelwood decision allowing prior review.

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