It’s been a big year for censorship in the press and academic expression. The Trump administration severely sanctioned universities that he claimed were peddling “ideological indoctrination,” and late-night shows hosted by vocal anti-Trump comedians Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert were suspended and canceled, respectively. This year, the FCC has made it known that it will use the “equal time” provision against what late-night hosts remain, effectively overturning their long-standing exemption from the rule in a move that seems aimed at defanging Trump criticism.
While censorship of these kinds tops headlines, student journalists are also fighting mounting pressure when it comes to publishing in high school and college communities. Last summer, for instance, Purdue University administrators terminated a long-standing agreement to assist in distribution of The Purdue Exponent, citing the school’s policy on institutional neutrality. In October, administrators at nearby Indiana University shut down print publication of the Indiana Daily Student; peers at The Exponent offered support by collaborating on a special issue.
Increasing censorship of media has particularly high stakes at the student level, said Mike Hiestand, senior legal counsel at the Student Press Law Center. “These are who we’re counting on to be our next generation of reporters,” he said. “We are trying to inculcate them, kind of make an appreciation for what the free press does. And I think that’s a really tough lesson right now.”
Instances of university newspaper censorship have become more common in recent years. In 2024, Penn State administrators removed physical copies of The Daily Collegian containing political advertisements from various distribution points around campus. Last year, the University of Alabama closed two magazines that the school worried could run afoul of federal DEI rollbacks, while editors of the student paper at the University of Central Oklahoma had their print budget killed in what they allege was censorship over their criticism of the university. Cases like these are common. According to a study from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, 63.8% of editors surveyed, all of whom attend public four-year colleges in the United States, experienced at least one instance of administrative censorship in the 2020-2021 school year.
Younger journalists are also facing increased administrative control in light of today’s political landscape, even if it tends to happen more quietly and draw less attention. High school journalism programs are, on average, smaller and less funded than the vast majority of college newsrooms, with less experienced students at the helm. Still, high school journalists do difficult, crucial work covering important local events, sometimes even filling gaps left by the closure of city newspapers. While a lack of resources often makes them more susceptible to censorship than their undergraduate counterparts, many high school journalists hold a tight line against such pressures.
Carrollton, Texas, high school senior Avery Boyle is acutely aware of the ways administrative pushback can impact the operations of a student newspaper. According to Boyle, the Editor in Chief of Hebron High School’s The Hawk Eye, Hebron administrators have blocked the newspaper from publishing several stories this school year. Most of those pieces, Boyle said, discussed topics administrators felt had the potential to spark controversy—topics like sexual health education and ICE’s presence in the community.
Hebron High School drew national attention in 2024, when a video of chemistry teacher Rachmad Tjachyadi wearing a dress in class during the school’s “Spirit Week” sparked conservative outrage online. The video inadvertently landed Tjachyadi and Hebron High School at the center of a heated culture war conversation—Tjachyadi eventually resigned, but not before Texas Governor Greg Abbot declared that “No parent should be forced by the state to send their child to this school.” Boyle believes fear of a repeat incident is the driving force behind Hebron administrators’ sensitivity to potentially divisive news coverage and opinion articles.
While the rationale behind censorship can differ from one school community to the next, Boyle’s experience isn’t a rare one. Censorship at the high school level is difficult to track because administrative or social pressures can discourage students from elevating incidents beyond their school. However, a survey conducted at a 2013 convention for high school journalists and staff advisers found that 32% of the students and 39% of the teachers reported having been asked not to publish or air some content by school officials. And according to Hiestand, there’s reason to believe this number may be growing. “We’re just seeing things in the student media world that are completely new,” he said. “There’s always been a tension between administrators and student media, but right now, they are very much at odds about how to get through this current moment.”
It’s not hard to see why administrators might want to navigate the current moment delicately. As the Hebron High School community discovered in 2024, the consequences of entering national conversations on divisive topics can be severe. But student journalists’ role, Heistand thinks, is to buck a school’s preference to not engage when they see issues that demand attention.
“I think all school officials, they just want to keep their heads down right now,” Hiestand said. “But for student media, our whole reason we do what we do is because we want to get attention—we want to say, ‘Hey, this is a problem.’”
Another reason censorship in high school communities can become difficult to quantify is because it often occurs before student journalists have actually produced a piece. As Hiestand pointed out, many students avoid pursuing stories that they worry could draw administrative scrutiny or chafe their newspaper’s relationship with other stakeholders in the community. Hiestand warns students against this silent self-censorship: “Caving to censorship without any sort of pushback — that’s really, really dangerous,” he said.
Boyle acknowledged this phenomenon as an unfortunate reality of leading a newsroom where reporters remain constantly aware of the risk of censorship.
“As Editor in Chief, I’m constantly battling — I don’t want to self-censor, but also, I need stories to go out,” Boyle said. “It’s very disappointing to tell the person, ‘We have to be kind of careful when we talk about these topics,’ things obviously that are very meaningful to the student body but are dangerous to administration.”
Boyle still encourages journalists on her staff to pursue “potentially censorable” topics, since she believes a free press is essential not only to a healthy school community, but to a healthy democracy as well. In case those stories don’t make it through to publication, she ensures The Hawk Eye will have other coverage to substitute in their place. Boyle and her coworkers on The Hawk Eye are attempting to pursue a more formal review of the legality of the Hebron administration’s behavior, though she said the process is slow-going.
Hiestand’s advice to student journalists afraid they may face censorship for a piece is to “just do the story.” Hiestand noted that there are more ways today than ever before for a piece to reach publication, whether within or beyond a journalist’s school community. There are resources available for student journalists struggling to publish coverage they believe is important — Hiestand’s own organization, the SPLC, offers free legal advice to student journalists navigating censorship situations.
Hiestand also emphasized the responsibility student journalists have to report things they believe need to be reported, regardless of external pressures.
“My job, over and over, is just to remind student journalists that their primary task is to determine what’s newsworthy: What is it you think your community, your readers, should know? What’s your responsibility for sharing information with them?” Hiestand said. “Once you’ve decided what you think the news is, your job is to cover it.”