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Leading editorial board members of The Independent, a Clark College student-run publication, have been threatened with disciplinary sanctions and the paper was suspended for nearly a month after  the students interfered with the faculty’s guidelines on hiring practices.

The controversy began on Aug. 19 when Editor-in-chief Audrey McDougal granted Managing Editor Nick Jensen and Lead Copy Editor Amanda Martin-Tully permission to attend an interview for The Independent’s new business manager.  Both Jensen and Martin-Tully were turned away from the meeting by security.  Faculty advisor Dee Ann Finken had earlier pushed through a rule change allowing only the editor-in-chief will be allowed to sit in on such interviews.

“From what I understand, the situation was very hostile,” McDougal said. An article from the Student Press Law Center said, "McDougal said she was concerned about the lack of student control over the editorial staff."

On the following day, all three editors received warnings from Clark College that they would be subject to punitive action for the breach of protocol.  McDougal, Jensen, and Martin-Tully were all sentenced to disciplinary probation for one year.

As a result of the infraction, faculty advisor and journalism professor Dee Ann Finken has required a three-week journalism boot camp for the student staff members.

“That didn't sound like a student-run newspaper,” McDougal said. All three are appealing their probation sentences.

More from the Student Press Law Center