IU junior Alberto Morales doesn't like to talk about the legal battles of his past, yet his participation in a lawsuit with his former school has led to a settlement that may influence student press freedom around the nation.

"It's such a long story," he said of his involvement with his former school, Ocean County College, and its administration's backlash against the student newspaper and its adviser.

A settlement in June between the school and the Viking News student newspaper ended the 18-month legal battle and reinstated the fired student publications adviser. It also sets up a Student Media Advisory Board of media organizations, advisers, students, faculty and local professional media.

For Morales, the controversy led directly to two events: his own place in OCC's increased freedom for student journalists and the end of his own reluctance to pursue a career in journalism.

"It all started on an ultimatum," Morales said. After leaving New Jersey City University and working as a disc jockey and audio engineer in New York City, he decided to return home to New Jersey.

"My parents said I couldn't live with them unless I went to college," he said. "So, that's how I came to Ocean County College."

Morales had a history with journalism at this point, but nothing inspiring. In fact, he had taken journalism classes in high school and hated it.

"It was always, 'Write about this. Do this,'" he said. "So instructional."

His father had given him insight into the media world, having owned his own political magazine in Ecuador.

"He spoke out against the government. They threatened to kill him," Morales said of his father. "He always encouraged me to get into journalism."

But it wasn’t until he picked up a copy of the OCC student newspaper, Viking News, that his own volition brought him into a newsroom. A childhood friend who was an editor for
the paper convinced him to join the publication as a writer.

Morales didn't realize he was walking into a heated situation ready to boil. The previous year, in 2002, administrative changes had led reporters at the newspaper to write disparaging remarks about the college president, Morales said. The president responded by requesting a fact-check meeting with the writer of the article.

"At this meeting he pulled out the Viking News and said, 'This is wrong. That is wrong,'" Morales said he was told by the reporter. "And he wouldn’t let her tape record the
meeting."

After that, the dialogue between the newspaper and administration ended for the time being. However, when Morales arrived at the Viking News, he started talking again.

"I started writing about how the administrators were getting title changes, and with those changes they got elevation in status and pay," Morales said. "(The administration) hated us for printing it."

But the students loved the news, he said, proven by a huge increase in circulation.

Still, Morales said he didn't want to be a writer.

"I just knew it was a good thing to do, because we were writing about the bad things the administration was doing," he said. "They were lying, and I was finding out the truth."

Ruth Witmer, the newsroom adviser at Morales' current publication, the Indiana Daily Student, said that's what makes him a true journalist.

"It's not that he wanted to do it, he had to do it," Witmer said. "At such a young age, taking a stand against the university, how brave is that?"

Despite taking a stand, problems continued as the administration increased its staff, adding a position of director of student media, to oversee the newspaper. The publication was subject to some oversight by the administration, given that student fees and minor
advertisement supported its production, Morales said.

The Indiana Daily Student, on the other hand, has had complete editorial control since 1969, when the students wanted to "break away from the man," Witmer said.

The administration supported the break, she said.

"From (IU administrators) Ken Gros-Louis to Dick McKaig to Herman B Wells, the administration here understands that free student journalists are keeping the wheels of
democracy going," she said.

More than that, the students have the power, she said. She and the late David Adams, director of student media who died in June, would tell readers who complained about
articles that students "have editorial control."

When Morales was at the Viking News, students did not have control, especially when their adviser, Karen Bosley, was fired.

"Our adviser got a letter in the mail saying after 35 years as adviser, she wasn’t going to be reappointed to her job," Morales said. "The letter said the reason was she wasn't up-to-date on newsroom computer technology."

When the administration denied a request from the newspaper staff to discuss the matter, the young journalists hired a lawyer.

The lawsuit gave Morales and his classmates a chance to learn about the First Amendment. They responded by filling an edition of their paper with the text of the amendment,
quotes from founding fathers and editorial cartoons representing the administration.

"We got a crash course in the First Amendment because we basically knew nothing about it," Morales said of the situation. "I was reading case law, because it was like,
alright, we're just letting our lawyers figure it out and that's not good. We should be doing this on our own."

The situation also led Morales to meet his most recent newspaper adviser, the late Dave Adams, at the IU School of Journalism. At the time, Adams was involved with College Media Advisers, which took interest in the situation. The Society of Professional Journalists
also jumped on board, censuring Ocean County College for violating the free press rights of students.

The end result was a legal success for the Viking News and for student media in general.

"Ocean County College encourages its student journalists to be independent thinkers, and it encourages all members of the college community to express their views," a joint
statement from both parties in the case, Coppola vs. Larson, said. "Therefore, the exercise of these rights or freedoms cannot be the subject directly or indirectly of any sanction or dismissal from the college."

The actions of Morales made Dave Adams proud, Witmer said.
Others saw the value in what Morales and his colleagues accomplished as well, honoring them with the 2006 Student Press Law Center and Associated Collegiate Press Freedom Award.

Witmer was at the award ceremony in St. Louis when Morales received the honor, alongside his colleagues at the OCC paper.

"He got all these college media advisers and students from around the country standing up and cheering," Witmer said.

She sees the ramifications of Morales' fight having an effect far beyond those involved.

"Above and beyond the fight that Alberto and his colleagues put up, it's going to set a precedent for Ocean County College and it's going to have an impact on everyone in the hall that day," Witmer said. "They know they can stand up."

Since the case at Ocean City College, a number of state legislatures in the U.S. have made strides towards stronger student press protection. Earlier this month, Oregon state senators passed a bill that will protect the rights of high school and college journalists.

"If passed and signed into law, House Bill 3279 will become the first piece of legislation passed by a state to protect both high school and college student publication
under one statute and the first high school protections enacted since 1995," the Student Press Law Center said in a press release.

As president of the Indiana University student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Morales plans to present a similar issue in Indiana.

"Now that this Oregon bill passed, I’m going to try again," Morales said. "I'm going to see if that can be one of our goals in SPJ."


Read about the lawsuit at the Student Press Law Center Web site. This site includes a timeline of how the controversy and lawsuit progressed.