Florida Atlantic University’s first step to toning down its student newspaper, University Press, was to fire long-time adviser and former editor-in-chief of the Alligator Michael Koretzky on May 18.
The reasoning behind Koretzky’s firing is still unclear — FAU claims it wanted him out of the part-time advising position so the university could hire a full-time employee to help the students at the paper. However, the university also said Koretzky was not allowed to stay on as an unpaid volunteer because FAU policy requires advisers of student groups to be university employees.
FAU has refused to comment on the issue or detail what the punishment would be if students met with Koretzky against the school’s wishes.
We are nothing short of disgusted over how FAU is handling this situation. It is effectively censoring its student newspaper and enforcing its rule through threats of disciplinary action. Sometimes we forget how lucky we are to work at an independent paper because things like this still go on at student papers across the nation.
We are glad to see Koretzky is still meeting with student writers against FAU’s wishes. But we would be happier if FAU would acknowledge its mistake, apologize and consider changing its policy for non-employees.
Anyone who volunteers to assist students in their area of study should be able to do so as long as he or she is qualified. Someone with about 20 years of journalism experience sounds qualified enough to us.
