Student, principal win courage awards for high school journalism
By Preeti Vasishtha
05.25.00
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ARLINGTON, Va. — A high school student's exposure of brutal hazing
practices by the school football team and a school principal's strong
stance against Internet filtering won them the Newseum's third annual
Courage in Student Journalism Awards.
Last November, 17-year-old Marina Hennessy, a junior at Avon High School
in Avon, Ind., wrote an article on hazing for Echo, the school
newspaper, despite the principal's efforts to censor it and the athletic
director's accusations of yellow journalism.
"If [the article] stopped something bad happening to some kid who just
wanted to play a game, yes it was worth it," Hennessy said after
accepting the award. "That was the goal from the beginning — that
parents should know about it (hazing)."
In the article, Hennessy quoted players who described beatings with
objects ranging from tennis balls in socks to belts, electrical cords
and chairs. Although student newspaper faculty adviser Pam Essex met the
principal to defend the students' right to run the story, the principal
ordered the story be pulled. After Essex informed the principal that
Hennessy intended to take the story to the school board and the
Indianapolis Star, the principal allowed the story to be printed, but
only if Hennessy substituted the coach's comments with a prepared
statement.
The article ran in Echo with an editor's note saying that school
officials had it. Local news media picked up the story, and the school began
taking steps to stop hazing. The coach resigned; summer football camp has been canceled.
Fellow award-winner Henry L. Caudle, principal of Davenport Central High
School in Davenport, Iowa, supported his students' efforts to publicize
and protest the school district's decision to place Internet filters on
all computers for students from kindergarten to the 12th grade.
"It was easy to support the students because in high school there should
be free access to information," Caudle said. "When high school students
did not get the access they should have, there was no reason for me not
to support their cause. They wanted to gather signatures on their
petition, they wanted to have a rally, and they did write a number of
articles in the student paper. It was easy for me to say yes to those
things. They did it in the right manner."
Student journalists complained that the filters were censoring
information needed for their research. With Caudle's support, student
journalists from two area high schools worked together to persuade the
school board to change its policy on Internet filters. The district now
provides an unfiltered computer in the library and journalism office of
each of the district's high schools.
Charles L. Overby, chairman and chief executive officer of The Freedom
Forum, said, "Authorities are always trying to filter your freedom. It's
some sort of natural instinct."
"The Internet filter has made us understand what the First Amendment is
all about even better because of that word 'filter,' " Overby said. "I hope
that we will stand up for people who are courageous and are trying to
overcome efforts to filter our lives in ways that endanger our freedom."
Joe Urschel, senior vice president and executive director of the
Newseum, said the journalism award honors both students and
administrators because "we recognize that an active student press is a
two-way street." It's borne out of mutual respect between student
journalists and appreciative school administration, he said. "Student
press cannot do its job effectively if the school administration will
not allow it to."
Hennessy and Caudle each received $5,000 and a glass plaque.
