In midst of lawsuit, Muscatine Community College students launch own paper

Muscatine Community College students and recent graduates are launching a new publication after they say administrators attempted to control the content of the school newspaper.

Two hundred people had donated more than $5,200 on the group's GoFundMe site Tuesday afternoon to launch an online and print newspaper called the Spotlight, which will focus on in-depth community news and feature student journalism.

'The support from the journalism community had just poured in,” said Mary Mason, a Muscatine Community College student and Spotlight editor-in-chief.

The group will publish its first newspaper Friday and the Spotlight website, www.spotlightnewspaper.org, will go live the same day. Money raised will pay for the Spotlight's printing costs, website and software licensing, Mason said.

Mason is among 12 MCC students and graduates who filed a federal lawsuit May 5 against school administrators, asserting they violated the students' First Amendment rights by trying to control content of the student newspaper and retaliating against students and faculty connected to the paper.

The conflict started in October 2013, when the college's bi-weekly student newspaper, the Calumet, ran an article questioning whether there was a conflict of interest in how the Student Senate chose the college's student of the month. The student chosen in September 2013 was president of the Student Senate, and her uncle was faculty adviser.

MCC launched an investigation of the Calumet story, with the district's Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action officer questioning the reporter, editor and another student writer, the lawsuit states. Officials determined there was no violation but placed a discipline letter in the employment file of James Compton, the Calumet's faculty adviser, the lawsuit said.

Calumet staff angered a math and science professor in December by running his photo with a story about several grants received by MCC faculty. The professor, Rich Boyer, had won a $38,000 grant but declined to speak to the Calumet for the story.

In February, MCC administrators announced Compton would be replaced with a part-time adjunct professor, the lawsuit states. The college changed the course schedule for fall 2015 so the class for Calumet news writers conflicts with other required classes, the lawsuit states.

An evidentiary hearing in the case is set for July 14.