Student Journalists Reach Settlement with OCC

Joint Statement of parties in Coppola v. Larson

A settlement has been reached in the case of Coppola v. Larson, 3:06cv2138 (NJ) that satisfies the concerns raised by both parties.  The terms of the settlement ensure that the Viking News will flourish as a positive learning experience and reaffirm the First Amendment rights of student journalists at Ocean County College.  A mutually agreed upon Student Media Advisory Board will work to guarantee that the Viking News and all student media at OCC continue to move forward independently while fully utilizing current media technology. 

The parties have mutually agreed upon the following First Amendment Statement which Ocean County College has adopted and will be guided by from here forthwith:

The Ocean County College President and Board of Trustees vigorously support the rights and freedoms granted to each member of the college community by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.  Ocean County College supports the free speech rights of students and employees and a student press free from prior review, prior restraint, or censorship as well as recognizes all student media as limited public forums.  Ocean County College encourages its student journalists to be independent thinkers, and it encourages all members of the college community to express their views.  Therefore, the exercise of these rights or freedoms cannot be the subject directly or indirectly of any sanction or dismissal from Ocean County College. 

The other major points of the settlement between the parties include:

·                    Ocean County College will create a new elective student media internship which will provide College credit for work on the Viking News, or one of the other Ocean County College media outlets.  Students will have the opportunity to select any faculty member for their internship except the advisor for the particular media outlet.  The faculty member shall work closely with the Student media advisor, who shall direct the intern’s work within the student medium, to assess whether the requirements of the internship are being satisfied by the student.  Students shall receive a pass/fail grade for participating in the student media internship program.

·                    Plaintiffs agree that Ocean County College will provide the Viking News’ computers with the same electronic security as those used to protect grades and college financial records and will not abridge the First Amendment rights of the students.

·                    The Viking News will, whenever feasible, use Windows-platform computers that can be integrated with the Ocean County College network.  At the present time, certain Macintosh production programs produce superior publications and are used widely in the commercial world for print production.  The Viking News will continue to use Macintosh computers to run these programs and any other programs that are superior to their Windows’ counterpart, or that do not have a Windows’ counterpart;

·                    The membership of the Student Media Advisory Board shall be standing and consist of the following individuals:

a.                   Editor-in-Chief of the Viking News

b.                  Editor-in-Chief of Barda

c.                   Editor-in-Chief of Seascape

d.                  Station Manager of WOCC

e.                   Advisor to the Viking News

f.                    Advisor to Barda

g.                   Advisor to Seascape

h.                   Advisor to WOCC

i.                     Director of Student Media or its equivalent

j.                    2 Representatives of the student body (elected annually by the student body in the Spring Student Senate elections.

k.                  Representative of the faculty (elected annually by the college faculty in Spring College Senate elections.

l.                     Representative of the local media (selected annually by the Student Media Advisory Board)

m.                The advisors and editors-in-chief or otherwise-named student leaders of other officially established student media

And the following two non-voting individuals:

n.            Board of Trustees – Student Representative

o.            Alumni Representative

·                    The Student Media Advisory Board’s sole functions are to approve budgets, select editors in chief and radio station managers and act as a resource to the student media on issues which have legal implications and on media convergence.  Ocean County College will also represent and warrant that the Student Media Advisory Board does not exercise any editorial or content control over the Viking News or other student media.;

·                    Ocean County College represents that the Viking News will be treated in the same manner as other student media at the College;

·                    Karen Bosley has been reinstated as student media advisor for the Viking News;

·                    Any changes to the Web host of the on-line edition of the Viking News must be jointly approved by the Student Media Advisory Board and the Editor-in-Chief of the Viking News.

Comments

[I heart OCC]

In his statement, released Monday, Larson said, "The mark of a good settlement is that it makes everyone happy, and that is certainly true in this case."

HA! HA! HA!

"The mark of a good settlement..."

Of course Johnny boy would know what "the mark of a good settlement" looks like.

He's had the experience of looking at alot of settlements!

Let's not forget what he did at Luzerne County Community College.

What an ass.

Ha ha ha ha!

[WebMaster]

Could not agree more with you, PP, his actions speak way louder than his words. He is a hypocrite.

Here are the links to today's AP Press articles:

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070619/OPINION/706190338/1029

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070619/NEWS02/706190404/1070

[Pouty Professor]

As always, wise sentiments brilliantly articulated, CS. But it also makes me gag when I read today's articles in the APP reporting that Larson is "so happy and pleased" with the settlement and that he supports free speech. Just revisit the history of this case and of his actions the past few years with firings, punitive action, and faculty dress-downs.

[Citizen Sane]

It’s just as well, Suzanne, that you and your pups made it to Pop Corn Zoo. The flop-eared quadrupeds there are more worthy recipients of the sustaining morsels in the palm of your hand than the well-fed and finely-tailored bipeds grazing the gold-foiled chocolates at the board meeting table.

Let us take this moment of success—and, but for the death of Bill Kanouse, triumph—to note that not a single board member serving contemporaneous to the December 2005 meeting axing Bosley and three other faculty members can invoke the least credible claim to impunity from this rank injustice exacted upon the college.

They all had before them the foreshadowing Fall 2003 letter from the former Personnel Policies Committee chair alerting them of the administrative overreach in the series of thwarted searches; they all had before them the president’s vituperative response, exceeding the original by a factor of almost four, to the March 2005 English Department letter, carrying eighteen signatures, setting forth, prophetically, the basis for Judge Stanley Chesler’s preliminary injunction ruling against the college, in which the Federal District Court of Trenton held that the students had a “likelihood of success” in demonstrating that the conduct of the president toward the student editors and Professor Bosley was a violation of First Amendment protections; they all had before them the cogent and detailed statements of the four fired faculty members affirming performance records excellent to superlative; they all had before them the courageous and unequivocal assertion by Bill Kanouse, as Faculty Association president at that fateful December 12 meeting, that the actions against Bosley and others constituted a maneuver of raw retaliation.

Let this body be recognized with distinction for its contribution to college governance. And may others take heed of this example.

[Suzanne]

Sorry to say, I was not able to make the meeting today..I thought it was next week, but they changed it to today, and I had promised my kids we would go to Popcorn Park Zoo...but if we look at the stupid lawsuit in retrospect, if the President had not spoken to those students off the record and threatened them if they did not write what he wanted them to, this lawsuit would never have happened....The United States Constitution protects our free speech (when not libelous, etc), but OCC needed a lawsuit to figure that out? COME on...give me a break, and stop tacking on all these fees!

[WebMaster]

We ARE the laughingstock of community colleges.

CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Monday, June 18, 2007

Community College Settles Lawsuit Over Press Freedom and Reinstates Student Newspaper's Faculty Adviser
By LAUREN SMITH

Ocean County College will reinstate its student newspaper's faculty adviser as part of a settlement last week of a lawsuit over student-press freedoms.

The settlement became official on Thursday at the U.S. District Court in Trenton, N.J.

The dispute dates to December 2005, when the college's Board of Trustees voted unanimously to reassign Karen L. Bosley, the faculty adviser. Ms. Bosley, a humanities professor, had been the paper's adviser for 35 years.

Mr. Bosley and her supporters said the reassignment was in retaliation for articles in the student newspaper, the Viking News, that criticized the college's administration. The president, Jon H. Larson, was the subject of two such articles -- one that criticized the cost of his inauguration, and one that criticized his decision to change the college's logo.

In May 2006, three student reporters at the paper sued the college, its Board of Trustees, and several administrators, including Mr. Larson, for violating their First Amendment rights to freedom of the press. Ms. Bosley, who retained her faculty post, was not a party to the lawsuit.

Still, she called the settlement good news. "I'm very pleased with the stand the students have taken in support of me and of not firing advisers because you don't like the items the students are publishing," said Ms. Bosley in a telephone interview on Friday. "I hope they'll keep on writing responsible journalism stories about things that need fixing."

No one at the college was available to comment on the settlement.

In addition to reinstating Ms. Bosley, the college agreed to create a Student Media Advisory Board, whose functions are to approve budgets for the newspaper and other student media, select editors in chief and radio-station managers, and act as a legal resource to student-media groups on the campus. Its voting members will include the faculty advisers and editors in chief of all college media outlets, as well as student, faculty, and local-media representatives. Nonvoting members include a student representative from the Board of Trustees and an alumni representative.

The college has also adopted a "First Amendment Statement" that says the president and the Board of Trustees "vigorously" support rights and freedoms on the campus and encourage student journalists to be "independent thinkers."

Ms. Bosley is still in a legal battle with the college over its decision to confine the courses she teaches to English. Before her reassignment, she taught many of the college's journalism classes. The case "will be very important in the future" to whoever succeeds her, even if the students "stay vigilant about protecting their rights," said Ms. Bosley.

[WebMaster]

The Asbury Park Press has an article in the Ocean section about the students' fight against the college regarding First Amendment issues.

The line "it encourages all members of the college community to express their views" is quite a stretch, no? I keep looking for the * and "see below" where * is defined as *unless these views differ from those of King Jon, if your views do differ, expect to be terrorized by your immediate superior and any/all of his minions*

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070618/NEWS02/706180347/1070

[Suzanne]

I just hope the faculty and staff will see that their free speech is now protected and that they will begin to speak out!

I need to start speaking out on behalf of the nursing students now as we are again hit with a fee that suddenly popped up, and our $1500 a semester lab fee doesn't cover. WOW! One of the worst things about the nursing program, the lab fee actually is more than the tuition for the 9 credits. AND, financial aid only considers number of credit hours when determining aid, etc. So although I pay as much as a full time student, I only get part time work study funds! It works that way for any nursing student only taking nursing.....really one sided! SUCKS!
Ah, but the rough part...nursing has subjective parts which mean..I need to watch my back on this one!

[Herb Germann]

Isn't it ironic that it took a lawsuit, a year of litigation at taxpayers expense to tell us that the first amendment applies to OCC and that Dr. Larson and college administrators are not above the law? Power, egos and insecurities have collided with unfortunate and chilling affects on he campus culture that will take years to recover. How sad. I hope some Board members are paying attention and learning some lessons in American civics.

Herb Germann, Professor of History since 1970

[Forgotten, not gone]

Hey!
The planetarium reopens its doors Saturday evening. Just a temporary reopening for now, but hopefully, the permanent reopening is not too far off.

[I heart OCC]

Here are links to stories you may not have seen.

---
OCC, student journalists settle lawsuit
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/top_three/story/7485571p-7380628c.html

OCC, journalism students reach settlement in First Amendment case
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007706150448

OCC, student paper settle
http://www.ocobserver.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070615/NEWS/706150314

Associated Press Story
http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/new_jersey/8007647.html

Student Press Law Center Story:
http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1549

EDITOR & PUBLISHER STORY
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/departments/newsroom/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003599630

[Pouty Professor]

Yes indeed, it certainly is a head-scratcher. And THIS is our "leader"? Heaven help us. I know this will sound like the questionable and vague "I have it from reliable sources 'in the know'...." preface, but to protect anonymity all around, a credible "source" totally unconnected to Ocean County or to NJ recently told me that other college leaders are aware of our plight here and of Larson's reign of terror and his continual violation of First Amendment rights. Be heartened at least by that...

[Forgotten, not gone]

This may be at least a part of the "big changes" indicated by Judge Fall. It all sounds good, but so do many of the other written policies we have. The important thing will be how it works out in practice.

I fully agree that it is ridiculous that a grown man has to be ordered how to act like a decent human, treat others with respect and obey the law.

Further ridiculous and disgraceful that the Trustees have been allowing him to behave this way.

But, Choir . . . I'll now quit preaching.

[WebMaster]

Are these the "big changes" to which Judge Fall referred? Why must King Jon have his attorneys tell him how to treat people decently? He is a disgrace.

[WebMaster]

When does Professor Bosley get her Journalism courses back?!