Support a free press NOW

For over 30 years, there has been one resource available free to scholastic and collegiate journalists as they sought advice and advocacy for their free press rights. The Student Press Law Center has faced a huge increase in calls and hits to its Web site in recent years, and it has seen operating costs grow as well. Now, there is a chance to raise funds for a permanent endowment, funds to be particlly matched by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in support of the SPLC's mission in a campaign called Tomorrow's Voices.

The foundation has made a huge commitment in the last five years to shore up the infrastructure of scholastic journalism, including millions dedicated to teacher training and a Web site for students, counselors and teachers as well as newspaper editors. Now, the Knight Foundation has turned to the SPLC as a crucial component of a successful student media program.

A letter from the SPLC executive director, Mark Goodman, makes the case:

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has pledged a $1.25 million endowment gift to the SPLC if we can raise $2.5 million on our own. That fund will exist solely to generate resources to help the SPLC continue to provide free legal assistance to high school and college journalists and the advisers who work with them. We have a Sept. 30 deadline for reaching the $1.5 million mark. Remarkably, we're only about $50,000 away from that goal. If we receive your gift or pledge before Sept. 30, we can submit it for matching funds from the Knight Foundation this year. Contributions of any size will make a difference to the success of our campaign and to the student journalists who we serve. For details about how to give (you can make a secure online donation or send us a check or pledge form), go to the Web site.

My good friend Bob Greenman of Brooklyn, N.Y., implored our colleagues to send a donation:

The SPLC is the only organization devoted to protecting the First Amendment rights of students, advisers and student publications. It is virtually a hallowed institution in this world of scholastic journalism, and almost every publications staff at one time or another will seek its advice and support, by email, phone or in person. Its publications benefit all of us.

Now, I urge everyone who values a free scholastic press to make a donation. Even a few dollars would help. Remember that every two dollars means another dollar from the Knight Foundation. At our summer journalism workshops, the 280 advisers and students raised over $800 for the SPLC, much of which will be matched by the Knight Foundation.

Go online and make a donation today. Or, send a check to the SPLC. Or, if you see me at school, give your donation to me, and I will send the funds along to the SPLC. In addition to my own annual contribution, I plan a special donation for the Tomorrow's Voices campaign.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.