New
O
Voices
Maryland
n April 26, I stood behind
Governor Larry Hogan
as he signed the New
Voices Maryland Act
into law. An effort that
had begun nearly a year before
had succeeded as Maryland
became the ninth state in the
country to protect the rights of
student journalists to responsibly
report on their schools and
communities.
HOW A STUDENT FREE PRESS
BILL PASSED IN MARYLAND AND
HOW YOU CAN PASS ONE, TOO
By Gary Clites
In 1988, the U.S. Supreme
Court decided in the case of
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier that
Signing. Senate President Mike Miller, Governor Larry Hogan and Speaker of the House Michael Busch signing the bill. Official
Photo by Kelcey Caulder
school administrators could
legally restrict students’ rights
under the First Amendment by
censoring student publications.
Unfortunately, the only real
guidance the Court provided
regarding when such censorship
was appropriate was that the
censorship was “reasonably
related to legitimate pedagogical
concerns.” While that phrase
may have been intended to limit
administrators’ right to censor,
in practice that is not what
happened.