HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) - Some Hutchinson Community College journalism classes have ended prematurely and the student newspaper will not publish its final issue of the semester in the wake of its adviser’s suspension.
Alan Montgomery, faculty adviser to The Hutchinson Collegian and the college’s journalism instructor, told The Hutchinson News https://bit.ly/2oUx1Tu on Monday that he had been suspended.
HCC President Carter File said he could not comment on the reported suspension or early end of the journalism classes because both involve personnel matters. Students will be given grades based on completed coursework, he said.
“We’re certain no students will be harmed,” File said.
Montgomery did not immediately return a phone message left Tuesday at his home by The Associated Press.
The latest issue of the student newspaper included a front-page story about Montgomery complaining to the U.S. attorney’s office in Wichita about the treatment of his students by administrators. Another front-page story in the issue was about a student kicked out of the journalism lab where she had been assigned as a lab monitor under a work-study program.
Collegian editor Loribeth Reynolds said security guards on Monday confiscated the issue containing those stories. She and another student staff member, Jeff Leddy, were on their way to put out the papers when a school security guard approached them saying he was told to confiscate them.
Reynolds said she protested, but they handed the newspapers over after the guard told them they were school property.
The papers were distributed later that day by Student Government Association members, File said.
The Collegian has printed stories during the year that quoted Montgomery as a source, which he told The Hutchinson News that he edited and helped write. He has also organized campus protests.
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Information from: The Hutchinson (Kan.) News, https://www.hutchnews.com
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