A few years back, there was a student newspaper at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. That’s where I worked as a student journalist (I also wrote for The Shreveport Times and Monroe Morning World simultaneously).
Wiley Hilburn was head of the school’s journalism program and faculty advisor to The Tech Talk, the student newspaper to which I alluded in the first paragraph. I remember Wiley telling me more than once that Tech President F. Jay Taylor had instructed him (Wiley) to allow the paper to report any and all news about Tech – good, bad or indifferent. To Taylor, a free press, even a student-run free press was absolutely essential and he gave the paper free rein. He was strictly hands-off.
But as I said at the onset, Tech had a newspaper “a few years back.” That’s because there is no longer a Tech Talk at Louisiana Tech.
You see, the paper, its editors and reporters were well aware that all was not well on the Tech campus, that on-campus sexual assaults were grossly under-reported. And it said so.
BAM! No more Tech Talk.
Jeff Landry, when he was attorney general, did his damnedest to get BOB MANN fired as faculty advisor to the LSU communications department because Mann was critical of Landry’s sending a flunky to a campus discussion of Landry’s opposition to the coronavirus vaccine and masking mandates in 2021.
Mann remained at his job until Landry got himself elected governor. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, Mann resigned but that apparently has not ended the rancor between the LSU student paper, the Reveille. and Landry.
Today, ANDREW SARHAN, a mass communication freshman at LSU, penned an op-ed piece in the student newspaper calling Landry “the worst governor in history” and that he should be impeached.
Ouch.
Landry is not only small in stature but awfully thin-skinned to boot. He doesn’t cotton to criticism, especially from upstarts in academia.
Sarhan is a lowly freshman, Landry is governor.
The governor controls – and I do mean controls – the LSU Board of Supervisors.
Sarhan is to be commended for his courage but if he thinks that Landry will sit still for being called the sorry-assed governor that he most surely is, the young man is in for a rude awakening.
As might be the entire mass communications department at LSU, not to mention that given what happened to the Tech Talk (and Landry wasn’t even governor then), the future for the Reveille might not be to bright itself.
I mean, if they can do it to libraries, then squashing a student newspaper is a simple matter. And the precedent has already been set up in Ruston.
Louisiana Voice 
How sad that student journalists are not even allowed to tell the truth . . . . oh wait, neither are tenured professors. And now many reputable national journalists are having to leave their platforms and go to independent journalism. Certainly smells like nazi Germany to me.
How do we get a copy of this young man’s column? I’m sure I’ll agree with his opinions!
Anytime you see something printed in BLUE and all CAPS, that’s a link you can click on to see what I’ve referenced. In this case, simply click on the young man’s name in my story and his column will appear.
Truth-telling is no longer acceptable. Anyone who dares speak the truth will be gone, will “suffer the consequences.” It seems that Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, spoke more truth yesterday than was realized, when she said, “This administration believes birthright citizenship is constitutional.” It seems this administration believes the First Amendment is unconstitutional as well.
Fourth Estate? If we do away with stuident papers, then we don ‘t have to worry about those journalists exposing everything we are up to.
Hi all, I am the author of this article, Andrew.
First of all I’d like to mention that I use they/them pronouns as I am nonbinary. Secondly, I appreciate the support behind the article. This week has been rough for me, and I have received immense amounts of backlash due to my article. However, like the mighty Mississippi, I stay the course.
Secondly, I do not believe the Reveille is at a point of failure like LA Tech’s paper. For starters, The Reveille has a lot of rich history behind it, and the sudden removal of the publication will spark not only controversy and protests, but also lawsuits. I have yet to be unable to publish something I have written. I appreciate the fact that y’all are concerned about our publication.
Finally, I want to thank you again for the response. It gives me immense joy to know that y’all read my article and have enjoyed it as much reading it as I have writing it. If you’d like to keep up with my work, my twitter page is @SarhanAndrew.
(PS: If you’re near campus, the article was recently printed physically if you’d like to grab a copy)