By ALLI SCHIEBER
Editor-in-Chief
Student newspapers all over the United States celebrate student press Freedom Day on Feb. 27.
This day is for newspapers to recognize their rights and realize what their student lead newspaper can or cannot be shut down for or what they can be fired for.
In September 2024 The Mercury which was the student newspaper at the University of Texas at Dallas went on strike.
This strike was the staff showing their support for their editor in chief that was removed from the staff. Editor in chief, Olivares Guiterrez, was removed from his position by the campus’s student media director, Lydia Lum, who claimed that he had violated the student media by laws.
The staff however, said the editor’s removal was retaliation for coverage that was done for a pro-Palestinian student encampment. While that protest took place in May 2024 by September the former advisor of The Mercury was demoted, travel to conferences was paused and newspapers had been removed from newsstands according to KERA News.
Since then, the staff did not get Guiterrez reinstated so instead they have an independent newspaper called the Retrograde. This is example is exactly why we recognize Student Press Freedom Day. Ways to get involved, according to studentpressfreedom.org, whether you write for a student paper or not, is to learn about your community and what student journalism looks like there, if you are reading this, we will assume you have already done that.
Another way to get involved is to talk with your school and learn about policies they have in place for student freedom and what you can do in order to change them if they are outdated. Writing an opinion piece or sharing a story about a time your work was censored as a student journalist are also great ways to show your support for student press freedom. The last two things you can do is stay informed about student press freedom and what changes are being made as well as, sharing the news about student press freedom.