No Action Yet on Students’ Vote Editorial

Editors of Cal State Fullerton’s student newspaper were still on the job Wednesday, one day after they apparently violated state law by printing an editorial endorsement of a candidate for governor. But repercussions may yet be in the offing.

Cal State Fullerton President Jewel Plummer Cobb said the administration will make “an appropriate response” to the action by Daily Titan editors after a decision is handed down in a lawsuit over a nearly identical case at Humboldt State University two years ago. That editorial resulted in the editor’s suspension.

Meanwhile Wednesday, the Humboldt newspaper, the Lumberjack, printed unsigned editorials endorsing political candidates and taking stands on ballot propositions, in apparent defiance of the state code, which bans such endorsements in state-subsidized publications of the 19 California State University campuses.

Editors at both papers said Wednesday that they were anxiously awaiting the schools’ response.

“At this point, we’re taking a wait-and-see attitude,” said Joyce Garcia, editor of the Cal State Fullerton daily paper, which in Tuesday’s edition endorsed Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley for governor in an unsigned editorial.

“So far nothing has happened,” said her counterpart at Humboldt, Lumberjack Editor Mark Anderson. The Lumberjack ran unsigned editorials endorsing Bradley, Alan Cranston in his bid for reelection to the Senate, the retention of California Chief Justice Rose Bird and a candidate for county supervisor, and taking positions on four ballot propositions. The editorials were accompanied by a box with recommendations on eight other candidates and four additional propositions.

The Humboldt editorials were accompanied by a disclaimer stating that the opinions were those of the newspaper editorial board and not necessarily those of the student body or of the university. The Fullerton editorial carried no similar disclaimer.

Humboldt has a history of swiftly disciplining editors who violate the ban on endorsements, Anderson said. In addition to the firing of the previous editor, Adam Truitt, an editor was suspended last year for printing an editorial endorsing two local candidates.

“I guess I should have been fired already,” Anderson said. His newspaper adviser “asked around . . . and found out that no action should be taken at this point.”

Cal State Fullerton’s Cobb, in a prepared statement released Wednesday, said the five-member editorial board “exercised extremely poor judgment” in printing the editorial and “acted on its own and contrary to the advice of the faculty adviser to the newspaper.”

She said editorial board members were “were aware of a provision in Title V of the (state) Administrative Code” prohibiting the endorsements. “They apparently wanted to draw public attention to the provision, which they view as unconstitutional. . . ,” she said. “An appropriate response will be made by the administration in keeping with the Title V provision and the outcome of the litigation.”

Cobb checked with California State University officials after the editorial was distributed Tuesday, CSU spokesman Jeff Stetson said. He said Cobb was advised not to act until after a decision in the Humboldt case, expected in about two weeks.

No UC Restrictions

Unlike student newspapers at CSU campuses, newspapers at University of California campuses and the community colleges have no restrictions on their editorial content, spokesmen said. “We can’t put restrictions on freedom of speech,” UC spokesman Mike Lassiter said.

But CSU spokesman Stetson said the newspapers in the CSU system have “an obligation to reflect the student body as a whole and not take on political judgments.”

Truitt challenged the policy two years ago with an unsigned editorial endorsing Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale. After his suspension, he filed a lawsuit against CSU, claiming that the code was an unconstitutional violation of First Amendment free speech rights.

Reached Wednesday in Redding, where he is a child care worker, Truitt was pleased that his fight is being carried on.

“I think it’s great,” he said of the Titan editorial. The state Legislature and the CSU trustees “can’t isolate one department out of each university and shake it every time there’s an election year. There are First Amendment rights at stake here,” he said.

His case sparked legislation by Assemblyman Dan Hauser (D-Eureka) to change the code, but Gov. George Deukmejian vetoed the bill in September.

Tuesday’s Titan editorial “absolutely” underscores the need for the legislation, Hauser’s chief of staff, Luke Breit, said. “We don’t feel the issue is dead, by any resolve.”