Dear Student Organization Members:

My name is Joseph C. Roth, I am a senior Computer Science major and Professional Writing minor at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. I am currently the Editor-in-Chief of The Keystone, KUs student newspaper.

I am writing you this letter to ask for your support. You see The Keystone is in a dire situation. The Keystone may have to stop publication and close up shop because of actions by the university president, who has lied to us in attempts to punish us for our publication, a clear violation of our first amendment rights.

In February 2007, we published an article that KU President F. Javier Cevallos did not agree with. Following the publication, Cevallos refused to continue paying editors of The Keystone, claiming that a PASSHE lawyer advised him of a liability issue because we are student employees. We have since spoken with the said lawyer, who has told us his advice to Cevallos was that there was no liability, even if we are paid as student employees, unless he has prior review of the publication, which he does not.

At the time when Cevallos told us he could no longer pay us, he also said that we would be allowed to pay ourselves out of our private, ad generated account, which we have tried to do and been told it is not allowed due to university policies.

We published 11 issues of The Keystone last semester, and have not received a dime in compensations for our work. Our staff is owed around $8,000 for last semester alone, $1,300 of which is mine personally for my dual position held as Opinions Editor and Webmaster. We each put about 20+ hours a week into The Keystone. If I spent those 20 hours a week at a job for minimum wage I would be making over $150 a week, but instead I put it into The Keystone because I care about journalism and Kutztown University. Apparently our president does not.
We have talked to a lawyer who believes that we have a very strong first amendment case against the university and are willing to go to court if we must. We really do not want to take this route and would very much appreciate any attempt you can make to help us.

Because of the strain put on our staff, we may not be able to continue publishing The Keystone. I have been working on The Keystone staff for three years now, and I know that in the two years we were paid it was difficult to find consistent staff members. Now that we are not being compensated it is nearly impossible. We do not want to dissolve the student newspaper, but it seems that it may be one of our only choices aside from a lengthy legal battle with the university for censorship, in which case we would probably end up having to dissolve anyway until the situation is resolved.

I have spoken to many other school newspapers in the PASSHE system. Of the 13 other school, I have spoken to eight and am waiting to hear back from four more. Cheyney University does not have a student newspaper. Of the eight I have spoken to, all are compensated in some way. Five are paid through stipends, like we have been for the past 15 some years, two are paid through ad revenue, as our president stated we could, yet has made no efforts to actually allow us to, and one is given credits through the English Department. So it does not seem like we are asking for a lot. We are only asking for the payment, which we have received for the past 15 some years, and which every other school newspaper in the PASSHE system receives, to be reinstated.

I am writing you this letter to both inform you of the situation, and ask for your help in resolving the situation. I have sent similar letters to state Senators and Representatives both of Kutztown’s district, as well as my home district of Easton. I have also sent a similar letter to the PASSHE chancellor, trustee, Kutztown Borough’s mayor and the council members of Kutztown Borough, but The Keystone is for the student body, and therefore your support would be much stronger than any of the above mentioned.

We are in the process of getting as many people to endorse our endeavors as we can, and would love to add your organization to the list. We are asking the Academic Departments, Student Organizations and Borough members to endorse us. We feel that strength in numbers is the best way to settle this without having to resolve to legal matters.

We feel that The Keystone is an important part of the KU campus. We act as a bridge between the student body with the faculty, administration, union and borough, providing news that students may not know about otherwise. Student organizations specifically benefit from our publication. We regularly report on events, fundraisers and awards which student organizations sponsor, giving credit where credit is due. Also, through our upcoming events calendar and preview articles, we increase the number of students who know about events organizations are sponsoring.

If The Keystone would stop published because of this situation, we feel the student organizations would suffer greatly. Because of this, we are asking for your support in helping us to continue serving KU as we have for the past 76 years.

We are not asking for anything extra. We are merely asking for the compensation for our work, which we have received for 15 some years and which most other PASSHE school newspaper receives.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration in this matter, we appreciate any help you can give us.

Sincerely,

Joseph C. Roth
Editor-in-Chief
The Keystone
McFarland Student Union
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Kutztown, Pa 19530