State senator urges LA City College president to back off student newspaper

AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

File photo of Assemblyman Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, center, talks about a bill to ban state agencies and organizations that use state funding from using children as translators, during a Capitol news conference held in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, April 1, 2003.

A California state senator is now backing editors of the campus newspaper at Los Angeles City College in a struggle with administrators. The newspaper says the college cut its budget in retaliation for articles critical of administrators. KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez has the story.

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez: In a letter, San Francisco Senator Leland Yee urged L.A. City College President Jamillah Moore to respect the free speech rights of student reporters. Frank Elaridi, editor-in-chief of the Collegian, the 80-year-old campus newspaper, says Moore has tried to cut reporters’ access to public meetings and slashed its budget.

Frank Elaridi: I think, really important to not only have a politician stand behind what you’re saying, especially when laws are involved and legal issues, but more importantly a senator who wrote some of the laws that she’s breaking.

Guzman-Lopez: She, President Moore, was not available for comment. English Department Chair Tammy Robinson denies the budget cut was retaliatory.

Tammy Robinson: I don’t quite understand how when the college is facing such a heavy deficit of $7.5 million, how the Collegian can say that they’re being targeted.

Guzman-Lopez: The dean of student life is proposing to move the newspaper from an academic department to his supervision. He wants the college newspaper to become self-sufficient. In the meantime, the Collegian is up for three national student newspaper awards at an event in Texas later this month. A dozen staffers are set to make the trip.