RICHARDSON, Texas — Two civil liberties groups are calling on the University of Texas at Dallas to stop alleged interference with the free expression of student journalists.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)’s Student Press Freedom Initiative and the Student Press Law Center recently sent a letter to the university that detailed what the groups called retaliation against student journalists after their coverage of a pro-Palestinian encampment set up on the campus in May.
The organizations said in the letter that they’re “concerned about the state of free expression, including freedom of the press, at the University of Texas at Dallas.”
The staff of the University of Texas at Dallas’ student newspaper The Mercury have been on strike for about two months after the removal of the former editor-in-chief Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez by administrators.
The Mercury reported Gutierrez appealed his removal, but that student affairs administrators refused to allow him to pursue the appeal via the process outlined in the university’s Student Media Operating Board bylaws.
“UTD’s removal of Gutierrez and the denial of his appeal are antithetical to basic conceptions of a free student press and incongruous with the public university’s binding legal obligations to uphold Gutierrez’s and other students’ First Amendment rights,” the letter from the civil liberties groups read.
“A university may regulate editorial decisions of student publications only if their content would lead to significant ‘violent disruption’ of the educational environment,” the letter continued. “No such disruption occurred here, and instead, it appears UTD has retaliated against the paper’s coverage of encampments by ousting its editor-in-chief."
Aside from Gutierrez’s ouster, the letter also cites the demotion of the paper’s advisor, the removal of copies from newsstands and other alleged interference with operational decisions.
WFAA has reached out to the University of Texas at Dallas for comment but has not heard back as of Thursday afternoon.
The Mercury reports that the paper’s previous advisor, Jonathan Stewart, was demoted shortly after the May 20 publication, newspapers were removed from kiosks and the paper’s pay structure was rearranged in a way that harmed the student journalists.
The paper says Gutierrez was ousted as editor-in-chief in September by the Student Media Operating Board with three of seven SMOB members not present during the vote.
The letter calls for Gutierrez’s reinstatement, revising student media bylaws to “eliminate any direct or indirect authority the SMOB has over student media content and operations,” and ensuring student media select their own leadership, rather than administrators.
The letter states that despite bylaws stating Gutierrez’s appeal should have been heard by the Student Media Operating Board first, the appeal was sent to the university’s Senior Director of Marketing and Student Media Jenni Huffenberger and denied.
The newspaper’s staff went on strike following Gutierrez’s removal Sept. 14, according to the letter.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) says the controversy surrounding university administration’s handling of operations at The Mercury comes after “spirit rocks,” or boulders that have been on campus grounds since 2008 that were decorated with pro-Palestine and pro-Israel paintings after the start of the Israel-Hamas war last year were removed.
