Some legislators in the state House want to eliminate state funding for all college newspapers because they feel the stories being printed are too controversial.
"This is based on membership who don't want state funds to be used for newspapers," said Rep. Russell K. Pearce, R-Mesa.
The budget recommendation was passed by a split vote in committee and now must be proposed to the entire House.
Pearce attached a footnote to the House Appropriations Committee's state budget recommendation that would cut state funding from all student newspapers.
If the House approves the budget, it would be sent to the state Senate and then the governor for approval.
Rep. Steve Gallardo, D-Tolleson, said Pearce included the footnote because he did not like some articles in The State Press.
The footnote is "censorship at its best," Gallardo said.
"This is [Pearce's] way to control what is in the newspapers. This is straight to the heart of freedom," he added.
Pearce could not be reached to clarify which articles motivated the footnote and did not note the exact amount of funding that would be eliminated.
Pearce said recent stories offended some legislators because they dealt with topics that were not appropriate.
"Public money shouldn't be used for sex surveys," he said.
Rep. Meg Burton Cahill, D-Tempe, who is in the Appropriations Committee, said she's against pulling money from college newspapers based on content.
"I don't believe it's our role as legislators to stifle freedom of the press," she said.
Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, said the center would offer assistance to any student or newspaper that wanted to file a lawsuit.
"No question in my mind that this provision would be unconstitutional," Goodman said. "The idea that a state legislator would enact this is crazy."
ASU spokeswoman Terri Shafer said the University could not react to the footnote until the bill is introduced but preferred the Legislature would not pass the bill.
Student newspapers are not connected to any other University funding requests, Shafer said.
Brett Fera, editor in chief of The Daily Wildcat at UA, said his paper does not receive state funding, but other papers within UA's journalism program would be affected.
"A lot of papers can't afford to operate without [state funds]," he said.
NAU's student newspaper, The Lumberjack, receives a small amount of money from the state, said general manager Brian Gillespie.
"If this is based on content, it would really upset us as a paper," he said.
Shaina Levee contributed to this article. Reach the reporter at michael.famiglietti@asu.edu.
