At a public hearing in November, students, educators, and student press experts from around the country met in Naperville to discuss the possible legislation. Michigan students will have to wait for a state law guaranteeing them the right to free expression. An aide to Rep. Profit said the bill may stand a better chance now that the Democrats control the House, but that the Senate is still in the hands of the Republicans and the bill as yet has no Senate sponsor. A lawmaker in Oregon has plans to introduce student free press legislation to the Oregon state legislature in January. Eighmey said he wrote to every superintendent of every school district in Oregon about student free speech, and received negative responses from all but one.
Students have to have the same rights as professional journalists.
This would mean that official, school-sponsored publications would be accorded the same free speech rights as alternative student publications, including underground newspapers not sponsored by the school.