The San Matean, the student newspaper at the College of San Mateo, said in an editorial Wednesday that it is concerned that the school has plans to interfere with the paper’s content. Last spring, the paper obtained a document by a faculty committee proposing that faculty members edit the paper to make it is something the school could be proud of.
The paper has submitted public records requests to President Michael Claire to obtain more information about the college’s plans for the student-run newspaper. The paper said its first request for memos, e-mails and other documents was ignored for two months. A follow-up letter resulted in the release of information which had previously been available, but none of memos or e-mails. Now, Claire is talking to legal counsel about what information he has to release to the paper.
Keeping an eye on the situation is The Student Press Law Center, the California Newspaper Publishers Association and Adam Keigwin, Chief of Staff for State Senator Leland Yee.
The paper quotes Keigwin as saying, “”The (open records) law is there for good reason and the administration has to comply.”