MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Students and some alumni of the University of Memphis's student newspaper, The Daily Helmsman, are claiming a university committee slashed its funding by a third over complaints about its content.
The Commercial Appeal reports that back in April, the Student Activity Fee Allocation Committee voted to give the newspaper a $25,000 decrease in funding from the previous year.
But university administrators deny that the cut in funding is related to the newspaper's coverage of the campus, saying in a statement that several student organizations received fewer funds this spring and The Daily Helmsman was not singled out.
Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center outside Washington, D.C., said that courts have ruled that public universities cannot cut funding to a student newspaper over content.
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Information from: The Commercial Appeal, http://www.commercialappeal.com
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