Federal appeals court overturns ruling in Kentucky yearbook case
By The Associated Press
01.05.01
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Editor's note: As a result of this decision, the university has agreed to pay students Charles Kincaid and Capri Coffer $5,000 each and $60,000 in fees owed to their attorneys. In addition, the university agreed to distribute the yearbooks, which had been locked away on campus since 1994.
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky State University violated the
free-speech rights of its students by suppressing a yearbook it deemed
objectionable, a federal appeals court ruled today.
The yearbook is a "limited public forum" with
constitutional protection, according to the ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in Kincaid v.
Gibson.
Two students who sued university officials over confiscation of the
1994 edition of The Thorobred
presented sufficient evidence that their First Amendment rights were violated,
the court said.
"There is little if any difference between hiding from public
view the words and pictures students use to portray their college experience,
and forcing students to publish a state-sponsored script. In either case, the
government alters student expression by obliterating it," Judge R. Guy
Cole Jr. said in the majority opinion.
The case was closely watched by other universities, which wanted to
see how their own campus publications would be affected.
Several journalism groups — the Society of Professional
Journalists, American Society of Newspaper Editors, Reporters Committee for
Freedom of the Press, National Federation of Press Women and the Student Press
Law Center — filed written arguments supporting the ex-students, Capri
Coffer and Charles Kincaid.
Coffer was editor of the yearbook, which covered the 1992-93 and
1993-94 school years.
University officials, including then-President Mary Smith and Betty
Gibson, who was vice president for student affairs, forbade the yearbook to be
distributed. They said it was of poor quality, and much of its content had to
do with state and national events, not the university.
Their complaints included the book's purple cover, as opposed
to the university's official green and gold, and an absence of captions
under many photos. The book's theme, "Destination
Unknown," was considered inappropriate. Copies of the book remain locked
away on the Frankfort campus.
After the suit was filed, U.S. District Judge Joseph M. Hood granted
the university a ruling that The
Thorobred was not a public forum, and its content did not amount
to public speech.
A panel of the appeals court upheld Hood in a 2-1 ruling. But the full
court reversed the rulings, saying they had been mistakenly grounded in a
limited free-speech standard that applies to high school publications.
"There can be no justification for suppressing the yearbook on
the grounds that it might be 'unsuitable for immature audiences,'
" said the opinion by Cole.
"The fact that the forum at issue arises in the university
context mitigates in favor of finding that the yearbook is a limited public
forum," the opinion said.
The court sent the case back to Hood with orders to enter a judgment
for the students.
Nine judges made up the majority. A 10th, Judge Danny J. Boggs of
Louisville, agreed that the earlier rulings should be reversed but said he
would have sent the case back for a trial in Hood's court instead of a
summary judgment.
In a dissenting opinion joined by two others, Judge Alan E. Norris
said the university's concern for its image, coupled with the
"undisputedly poor quality" of the yearbook, made it reasonable
for the school to "cut its losses by refusing to distribute a university
publication that might tarnish, rather than enhance, that image."
Previous
Federal appeals court hears arguments in Kentucky yearbook case
Lawyer for former Kentucky State University students asks justices to overturn lower court's ruling in Kincaid v. Gibson.
05.31.00
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Kincaid v. Gibson is 'the single most dangerous threat to college press freedom and would rewrite history for student journalists,' says Ken Paulson.
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By Ken Paulson For years, supporters of campus press freedom have feared a judicial attack on college media, but no one dreamed it would come in the form of a purple yearbook.
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Former Kentucky State students urge full appeals court to hear yearbook case
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Federal appeals panel sides with university in dispute over student publications
Attorney for former Kentucky State students says he hasn't yet seen ruling in Kincaid v. Gibson but will appeal it.
09.08.99
Pending 'Kincaid' ruling seen as 'incredible threat' to college press
NEW ORLEANS — A college censorship case pending before an appeals court could be an incredible threat to college media, Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, said Thursday at the annual AEJMC convention.
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