To: Dr. Paul Killpatrick, President of SCCC

Dr. Killpatrick: supervision of student press must be neutral

We, the students, staff, faculty and community of Seattle Central urge Dr. Killpatrick to protect student press freedom at Seattle Central by appointing a neutral faculty member to chair the supervision of student publications.

Why is this important?

The PubBoard is a committee that supervises student publications at Seattle Central Community College. It is currently chaired by the Dean of Student Leadership: the same department that controls funding and personnel management of Seattle Central's student publications. Such concentration of authority over student press is an unacceptable threat to the press' public mission.

We urge President Killpatrick to appoint a neutral faculty member (i.e. someone who is acceptable to both student journalists and to Student Leadership) as chair of the PubBoard, so that student publications will be supervised in a fair, transparent, and accountable manner.