A little sunlight is all it takes: After coverage from the Student Press Law Center, The College Fix and others, Western Illinois University has backtracked on its potential expulsion of a student journalist for … journalism.
The Student Press Law Center reports that the head of student services told Nicholas Stewart, editor-in-chief of the Western Courier, that his suspension from the paper was lifted “immediately” because of “lack of guidance” on freelancing. (Passing the buck, he blamed the publications board for “inadequate meeting minutes” stretching more than five years.)
Stewart had the temerity to cover a campus brawl when the Courier wasn’t publishing in December, and he sold his video to a company for which he freelances. Sounds like the school didn’t like the visuals:
On Dec. 12, Stewart filmed campus police pepper-spraying a group of students after a fight broke out on campus following a Black Student Association Dance. That evening, he uploaded the video to Live Storms Media, a company he freelances for, and to his personal YouTube channel.
The school said he should have turned over that payment, saying his freelancing posed a “threat to the normal operations of the university.”
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