SAN FRANCISCO, May 21, 2025 — The San Francisco Press Club today denounced Lowell High School administrators’ decision to remove educator Eric Gustafson from his roles as journalism teacher and student newspaper adviser in apparent retaliation for a critical story published by student journalists. The October 2024 article, titled “Invasive and Inappropriate,” interviewed Lowell students on verbal harassment and inappropriate behavior they claimed to have experienced from their teachers.
“The Lowell administration’s action reflects a fundamental disregard for journalism and the First Amendment,” said San Francisco Press Club President Curtis Sparrer.
“The San Francisco Unified School District should reinstate Gustafson immediately, pledge its commitment to the First Amendment and insist all school administrators demonstrate a clear understanding of what those protections mean.”
The SF Press Club asked the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) five questions about Gustafson on May 20th. Instead of answering them directly, SFUSD provided its May 13 statement to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which denied Gustafson’s account while saying his replacement had already been selected.
Numerous news organizations, including the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED, report Gustafson was stripped of his adviser role after a meeting with school administrators in which he and student editors were reprimanded for publishing the harassment story. Gustafson and several student editors say they were also pressured to give the administration advance review of future editions of The Lowell, the school’s student newspaper.
No newsroom would, or should, accede to demands for advance review by a powerful entity under journalistic scrutiny. The San Francisco Press Club calls on Lowell to immediately reinstate Gustafson and to commit to protecting the integrity of The Lowell’s reporters.
We join the Journalism Education Association of Northern California in warning that a reassignment motivated by the student paper’s critical editorial content would clearly violate state law, which protects student freedom of expression and shields student newspaper advisers from retaliatory reassignment. And we echo the Society of Professional Journalists’ Northern California Chapter in denouncing the school for failing to respect core journalistic principles.
Lowell administrators deny that the students’ reporting motivated Gustafson’s removal from the adviser position. If that is indeed the case (however doubtful), we call on the Lowell administration to resolve whatever internal matter may have prompted the reassignment of responsibilities and restore Gustafson to the positions he has held for the last eight years and restore trust in the administration’s commitment to First Amendment rights on campus.
photo credit: Lowell student, and Photo Editor, Imaan Ansari.