The Tech Talk is a real newspaper.

Just like every other newspaper, we find and write our own stories, edit them and design the pages ourselves. Ad sales determine the length of the paper each week. We can even be sued for libel.

Most importantly, we have the Constitutional right to freedom of the press.

But recently, according to a March 12 article on www.cnn.com, that freedom is being questioned.

A weekly student newspaper at Long Island University in Brooklyn, N.Y., violated student privacy rules by publishing the Student Government Association president's grades.

According to the article, the school took drastic measures by suspending the editor for three weeks, removing a faculty adviser who helped obtain the grades and even changing the newspaper office's locks.

The question, they say, is, "How much freedom of the press should student newspapers have?"

Well, I have the obvious answer. Student newspapers should have the same freedom of the press that every American has.

The First Amendment to the Constitution is not limited to a certain group. It does not specify the freedom of the press as being only for city newspapers that are published daily.

It belongs to everyone.

Surprisingly, according to an article on www.msn.com on the same subject, private universities are not required to offer the same freedom of the press to their student newspapers as public universities are. I don't think that is right.

Now, to be fair, if we are able to claim the same rights as any other publication, student newspapers should also be punished as any other publication.

I don't disagree with the punishment. Changing the locks on the doors may have been pushing the power-trip button, but when rules are broken, someone has to pay the price.

University of Long Island administrators said the most disturbing aspect of the ordeal was, and I agree, that the adviser helped the editor acquire the grades and reportedly encouraged him to print them.

In fact, MSN reports, "In the 1979 case Bilney v. Evening Star, a Maryland court said a college newspaper did not invade a student's privacy by publishing the grades of members of the university's basketball team because the athletes were considered public figures."

Therefore, the fact remains that it was not the actual printing that caused the problem, but the manner in which he did it.

Every story has more than one side, and rarely does a story only have two sides. It is the job of a journalist to cover every angle possible in a story. The Long Island editor did not even give the ex-SGA president a chance to plead his case.

College newspapers, The Tech Talk included, are a way for students to experience the aspects of journalism first hand. We are inexperienced coming in. Working on the paper in college is a part of our curriculum.

One of the most important jobs of our adviser is to instill strong moral and journalistic ethics into us all.

The adviser at the University of Long Island failed his students in this respect, and I don't disagree with that person being removed.

Like I pointed out before, The Tech Talk is a real newspaper, despite what some may think. But whether or not college publications should be or will ever be considered real is completely beside the point.

The point is we live in a country where certain rights are given to us by the Constitution.

As journalists, of any age at any size publication, we are given great freedom. And with that freedom comes great responsibility.

As college journalists, we strive to be moral and truthful and to hold ourselves accountable for our mistakes.

Just like every other newspaper.

Heidi Hausmann is a senior journalism major from Opelousas and serves as editor for The Tech Talk.

E-mail comments to heidihausmann@hotmail.com.