Pay close attention to Hampton

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states the following:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Now if Congress can’t make a law “prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” how can an institution’s administration attempt to exercise such conduct?
In late October, when the administration of Hampton University seized 6,500-copy press run of the Hampton Script, I was devastated.
According to Richard Prince’s Journal-isms, a column sponsored by the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, Talia Buford, the newspaper’s editor, said that the copies were taken away after the students didn’t place a letter from the administration on the front page as the administration had requested.
What happened at Hampton displayed not only a disregard for the voice of the students, who are your future, but also an inept disrespect for the First Amendment.
I plead to educational institutions around the globe to realize that this is not fair. It isn’t fair to your students, it isn’t fair to your citizens and it isn’t fair to your institution.
Since the “seizure” by Hampton’s administration, the American Society of Newspaper Editors has recently pulled a $55,000 grant used for HUs high school journalism institute.
Now other future journalists have to suffer. Our future journalists.
Our forefathers have suffered, struggled and fought for years to have a voice heard in a country that at one time would not even consider African-Americans as citizens.
Please don’t give credence to denying the voices of thousands of student journalists because of your disapproval in journalism content or the light it may shed on your campus.
I urge institutions and student journalists everywhere to pay close attention to what has happened at Hampton. The attempt to silencing a voice only made that voice louder. Now all eyes are on Hampton, Va. at Hampton University. They should be.
Because your institution could be next.