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The University of Colorado Boulder punished a student who filmed a protest on campus without receiving permission first from the school, leading to intervention from a national free speech group.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression is intervening on behalf of Ašiihkionkonci Parker who faced suspension, and then a ban on being on campus except for classes, following an incident this semester.
In October, pro-Palestinian students disrupted a career fair, protesting defense contractor Lockheed Martin. Parker is a reporter for an independent newspaper and a student at CU Boulder. The journalist covered the protest and faced suspension, along with two other journalists and ten activists, according to the CU Independent.
Letters from FIRE have asked for Parker’s immediate reinstatement and urged CU Boulder to reaffirm its commitment to student press rights.
Marie McMullan, with the free speech group’s press freedom team, provided further comments to The College Fix. “Parker is still subject to the student conduct process” but “now able to return to campus, attend classes” and report on stories.
CU Boulder did not provide comment for this story after emails and phone calls.
The Fix sent an email on Nov. 11 and a follow-up on Nov. 17 to the school’s media team, along with other attempts in November and December to various representatives via email and phone call.
However, Provost Ann Stevens provided general comments to FIRE in a response letter on the situation, citing the “ongoing student conduct process.” She referenced the university’s policies restricting filming, while saying the school wants to support journalism.
Stevens said the public university “encourages all journalists, whether student or professional journalists, to notify the Office of Strategic Relations and Communications (SRC) of their intent to cover an event on campus so that SRC can support those journalistic efforts.”
These supportive policies include following campus policy that requires preapproval to film people in the University Memorial Center.
In a follow-up letter on Nov. 3, FIRE criticized the school’s preapproval policy.
“In addition to being impracticable and grounds for arbitrary enforcement, this over-restrictive requirement violates the First Amendment,” Student Press Counsel Marie McMullan wrote. “The right of the press to gather information is well-established and includes the right to publicize lawfully obtained information.”
This is not the only campus where the rights of journalists are facing restrictions, according to McMullan and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen student journalists faced with stark punishments for covering these kinds of events,” McMullan said.
She warned of far-reaching effects should Parker or others continue to face sanctions. “Actions like these send the signal that student journalists risk their academic livelihoods if they shed light on protests happening on campus.”
“The practical result of that is student journalists not covering these issues, leaving the first draft of history on their campuses unfinished,” McMullan said.
Editor’s note: The article has been updated to clarify comments from FIRE.
