The College Fix

UPDATED

A local TV station in Indiana is getting harangued for running a non-story that resulted in death threats against a pizzeria, but sometimes journalists get railroaded for simply serving the public.

That appears to be the case at Virginia Tech, where the editor-in-chief of the independent student paper, Collegiate Times, was fired without any of the protections guaranteed by the nonprofit that runs student media at VT.

The Student Press Law Center reports that Erica Corder had simply shared with readers that the paper’s parent, Educational Media Co., had “failing finances and [an] uncertain future” – and might put itself voluntary back under the thumb of the university in exchange for funding.

She got kicked out of the room at a hearing of the “Management Advisory Team” – a student body staffed by student media reps – but overheard the advisory board members “discuss her finances story and then — to her surprise — her potential termination”:

“The story came up way, way more often than it should have,” she said. “I mean, they just kept talking about this story, this story, this story, and multiple times people asked ‘should we bring Erica in to discuss this? Should we bring Erica in and ask her about these things?’”

She was fired over email. Does this nonprofit’s action sound like any process that’s been serially abused by college administrators against students?

A week later, [co-managing editor Kevin] Dickel, who was picked to replace Corder, attended Tuesday’s advisory board meeting, where an advisory board member admitted she discussed the content in Corder’s story before voting for her termination. Dickel said he asked to see the complaints against Corder but was refused.

Anailis Diaz, who serves on the advisory board and the board of directors, said she asked the advisory board on Tuesday to give Corder due process and to conduct an investigation on the complaints against Corder. She, too, was rejected.

After the meeting, Dickel gave his two-weeks’ notice with the paper, ending a five-year run with the Collegiate Times.

Here are the protections that Diaz says the board ignored to fire Corder:

• Student leaders can’t be fired because of a story’s content
• They must get prior notice about complaints or policy violations
• An investigation lasting no more than two weeks must be conducted
• The leader must be given a hearing before the board

And the kicker: 70 percent of the advisory board has to vote to dismiss. The vote for Corder was actually 6-4.

It’s a terrible time to be a journalist if you want the public’s sympathy. Which is all the more reason to defend those who are truly working in the public interest.

CLARIFICATION: The story has been amended to reflect that the Management Advisory Team is composed of student media reps.

Read the story.

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