May a school legally censor an off-campus, “underground” student publication?
Partly because of Hazelwood, which allows administrators to censor school-sponsored publications as long as the decision is “reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns,” a greater number of students have resorted to their own independent newspapers. Since these publications are not school sponsored, they receive the same level of protection any other newspaper receives, and they are not bound by the Hazelwood standard of expression. If students don’t distribute their paper on school grounds, a school is very limited in its ability to censor a privately produced student publication. If they do distribute on school grounds, a majority of the courts will apply the Tinker standard. Administrators may also place reasonable restrictions on the time, place, and manner of its distribution. Courts have been divided on this issue, however, partly because there are differences of opinion when applying the public forum analysis, a legal method for determining to what extent someone shou
