On Wednesday, The Daily Princetonian signed an amicus brief in support of The Stanford Daily in Stanford Daily Publishing Corporation et al. v. Rubio, a lawsuit in federal court that challenges the Trump administration’s revocation of international student visas for constitutionally protected speech. An additional 54 student newspapers and newsroom leaders from universities across the country have also signed on.
It is rare for the ‘Prince’ to take such a step, and we have not done so lightly. We believe this brief, filed by the Student Press Law Center, persuasively conveys the extraordinary challenges that student newspapers across the country have faced since January — and that the brief benefits from the support of a diversity of student media organizations, including our own.
In August, The Stanford Daily, the independent student newspaper at Stanford University, sued the Trump administration, arguing that international students — both sources and staff — had pulled back from engaging with the paper due to fears about their visa status. The Daily was joined by two anonymous international students who said they preemptively chilled their speech in response to the government’s public stance. They are being represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
As editor-in-chief, I have seen international student staff from all levels of the ‘Prince’ shy away from bylining news articles and expressing their opinions in our pages. I have dealt with dozens of requests from current and former students to anonymize, take down, or otherwise scrub already-published content. These students are, understandably, distressed, desperate, and above all, deeply fearful that their status in the United States could be revoked. The past nine months have been trying for everyone.
The brief has also been signed by 54 of our peers, including seven of the eight Ivy League newspapers. The ‘Prince’ is fortunate — and proud — to have solid backing in addition to full independence from Princeton University.
Many other student papers, however, are not so lucky. Some cannot operate independently from the institution they cover; others may have declined to sign their names for fear of inviting government scrutiny of their international staff members — the very issue this amicus brief and The Stanford Daily’s lawsuit seek to address.
Student newspapers are not wholly neutral actors. We are what you might call “value-laden institutions” that are committed to principles like freedom of speech and press independence. When our ability to report is threatened, we should defend it.
We will continue to fulfill our responsibility to our readership, reporting on Princeton, the Trump administration, and higher education as we would otherwise: fairly, independently, and unwaveringly.
Miriam Waldvogel is the 149th Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Princetonian. She can be reached at eic[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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