College Newspaper Ignores Ban, Endorses Bradley

The student newspaper at Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday endorsed Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley for governor, apparently in violation of a controversial state law prohibiting such endorsements.

The Daily Titan’s endorsement appeared in the form of an unsigned editorial. Endorsements of national, state and local candidates may appear in student newspapers if they are signed by their author. But existing state law prohibits any state-subsidized publication from giving endorsements in unsigned editorials.

Joyce Garcia, editor of the Titan, said Tuesday that the student editorial board was aware of the prohibition and decided to risk making the political endorsement. “We did it for First Amendment (freedom of the press) rights, pure and simple,” Garcia said.

But Edgar P. Trotter, chair of the Cal State Fullerton communications department, said Tuesday that freedom of the press has limitations when government funding is involved.

“The reasoning is that government-subsidized publications shouldn’t get into things like this, and I agree with that reasoning,” said Trotter, who supervises the school’s journalism program. Trotter said he met with the student editors Tuesday morning after reading the endorsement in the newspaper. At that meeting, he said, he expressed his displeasure over their action.

“I’m not sure what repercussions there will be,” Trotter said in an interview Tuesday. “They have willfully violated a law, and I talked to them (the student editors) about the implications of that.”

In 1984, Adam Truwitt, editor of the Lumberjack, the student newspaper at Humboldt State University in Arcata, was fired after the paper endorsed Walter Mondale for president in an unsigned editorial.

Partly in response to the controversy that erupted from that episode, the Legislature this year passed a bill that would have allowed state-supported college newspapers to endorse in political races. The bill was vetoed in September by Gov. George Deukmejian.

Deukmejian, a Republican, is seeking reelection Nov. 4, and Bradley, a Democrat, is running against him.

In Tuesday’s Titan editorial, Deukmejian was criticized for his record of state support for education. The editorial said the state now spends less per student, when adjusted for inflation, than it did in 1979, before Deukmejian took office.

“With this type of record, the choice is simple,” the editorial said. “Elect Tom Bradley on Nov. 4.”

Garcia, the student editor, said, “We never formally consulted faculty members about this (endorsement editorial) because we don’t consult faculty on our other editorials. This is just another editorial.”

She said that the state law that prohibits student newspapers from endorsing candidates “seems blatantly wrong.”

Trotter said he did not know what percentage of the Titan’s budget is financed by state funds, over and above the advertising revenue brought in by the student newspaper. But he said it is “considerable.”

“The issue is not who the paper endorsed,” Trotter said. “The issue is that a state law is involved. I’m an ardent defender of freedom of the press, but until the law is changed, there are implications for violating the law.”