Iowa High School Pulls Student Newspaper With Racism Survey

By: Joe Strupp Administrators at an Iowa high school pulled copies of a student newspaper earlier this week after complaints arose about a racism survey in the paper, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

In a story on the paper's Web site on Wednesday, the Press-Citizen reported that City High School principal Mark Hanson removed copies of the Little Hawk newspaper's Oct. 19 edition. It included a survey finding that 13 percent of students polled viewed blacks unfavorably and two percent viewed whites unfavorably, the Press-Citizen said.

"He didn't tell anybody (Friday)," Executive Editor Adam Sullivan, 17, told the paper, referring to Hanson. "My staff, my adviser."

The paper reported that the survey polled 350 students, adding that an editorial was published in the same issue "pleading for racism at City High to be addressed." The Press-Citizen said the survey, as well as the editorial, "caused three 'near-fights' between students Friday. [Hanson] said he decided to pull the issue to promote student safety."

"Each one was spawned after they had read these articles," Hanson said. "If I think there is something endangering student safety, I'm going to do something about it."

Sullivan told the paper the articles were meant to create discussion about race among students. "He said there have been a growing number of black students at the school in recent years, a trend that has caused tension among some students. While Hanson said he did not think the survey was accurate, Sullivan said he was happy with the newspaper."

"This is real journalism," Sullivan said. "This is a page I'm proud of. We're teenagers, but we can do this."

Jeff Morris, the Little Hawk faculty adviser, said "under Iowa's student press law, school administrators have the right to censor student publications if they deem it a 'substantial disruption' to the school.

"If Hanson did what he did, it's his call," Morris said. "Obviously, Adam is the executive editor and of course, he wouldn't want (the paper) pulled."