Chris Evans, who investigated for College Media Advisers, said there appears to be a direct link between the editorials and the decision not to renew Brown's contract. That's a bad precedent for Morgan, he said, because it implies that the university wanted Brown to prevent students from speaking freely in their publication.
"The important thing is that the adviser not be in control of editorial content," said Evans. "If you're getting forced out because a story was printed, something is wrong."
The trouble began with editorials published Feb. 18 in the student newspaper The Spokesman. The writers generally criticized the university's office of student activities for usurping budgeting and spending powers from student government. Perry rebutted this claim. The day after the editorials appeared, Perry wrote Brown to commend the writers for "taking a stand" and asking for a meeting with them so he could "ferret out, or fully uncover, the misdeeds cited in their articles."
A few days after the meeting request, Toya Corbett, coordinator for the office of student activities, e-mailed Perry, telling him that no one from the newspaper had contacted her before printing the critical articles.
Perry wrote back, saying, "If it is as you described, then a basic tenet of responsible journalism would seem to have been violated."
Brown said she agreed to accompany the students to a meeting with Perry. But she said she never received notification of a time and place for the meeting. Morgan administrators said the meeting was scheduled, and no one showed up.
On June 12, one of her superiors, Floyd Taliaferro, wrote Brown, saying that she and the reporters never appeared at a scheduled meeting with Perry. "Now there is concern that the accusations were baseless and not supported by facts," he wrote.
He asked reporters to set up individual meetings with him and bring the evidence used for the editorials. He told Brown that her contract would not be renewed until the matter was resolved.
Brown replied in a June 15 letter that she had never received notice of a scheduled meeting and that the reporters were away for the summer.
Four days later, Taliaferro told Brown in a letter that her contract would not be renewed. Brown asked for an explanation, and Taliaferro wrote back about a week later that he was not obligated to give her one.
