1971: Daily Cal, the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) newspaper, earned independence after the university administration attempted to fire three editors in response to an editorial. In order to prevent future interference in staffing from the University, The Daily Californian came to an eventual agreement with UCB to become financially and editorially independent as a nonprofit organization.
 Impact: College newspapers nationwide adopted similar operational independence and distance from their affiliated university to protect the freedom of student press. |
| 1949: University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) student council rejected The Bruin’s choice of Editor-in-Chief(EIC) and managing editor(ME), five editorial board members resigned and the newspaper’s staff went on strike for the summer. The paper returned to operation the following academic year after the student council accepted the choices for the editor positions. The student body voted for the EIC and ME positions until 1962, when the council allowed the editor positions to be selected by the Publications Board.
Eventually started funding its own operation and could operate more independently until 2009, when the student body passed a referendum to help fund the newspaper. |
| UC vs. Paper blurb
Across the UC system, student newspapers have worked to gain editorial independence from their universities and student governments. Today, each campus’s newspapers are student run and operate independently from their associated university. While UC newsrooms do receive funding through student fee referendums and self-generated revenue, policies are put in place to create operational distance between student government and editorial staff. They often refer to The Society of Professional Journalists’s (SPJ) code of ethics, a guide designed to help journalists take responsibility for the information that they provide. Among those recommendations is to act independently in service of the public’s interests. The Highlander, as well as other UC publications, draw from such ethical guidelines. The distinction between a newsroom, administration and student government is critical to fair reporting. A student newspaper cannot hold its university accountable while its university holds the reins. |
Looking back at stepping stones in university journalism
The Highlander turns 75 thanks to the organizations who paved the path.
