Kentucky State University officials, for reasons that would have seemed laughable but a few years ago, are today asking a federal court of appeals to force that high school ruling on their students. And the threat is all too real. We have watched it happen in our high schools. It would happen in our universities. The 6th Circuit's application of the Hazelwood high school censorship standard to the collegiate press sends a shiver down my spine.
College students are adults.
Activities, ideas and beliefs we have come to take for granted originated on this nation's college campuses. Long before the general public came to believe it was time to pull out of Vietnam, for example, students were advocating pullout on campus quadrangles and in college newspapers. But high schools and colleges are different. Unlike a high school, which younger students attend, the mission of higher education is to create a marketplace of ideas so young adults learn to analyze and critique ideas. Such a marketplace requires free expression.