This post was updated Sept. 3 at 3:29 p.m.

The Daily Bruin joined 39 college newspapers on an amicus brief filed Wednesday calling on an appeals court to defend student press freedom. 

The brief – filed by the Student Press Law Center, a legal advocacy nonprofit – urges the United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a district court’s ruling that argues a university’s decision to operate student publications is government speech and therefore not subject to the First Amendment. The University of Alabama closed two of its Black- and women-focused student-run magazines in December, prompting student journalists to sue the university.

The University of Alabama shuttered the magazines in response to a July 2025 memo from then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, which urged public universities to comply with federal antidiscrimination laws by eliminating programs that are “unlawful proxies” for discrimination, or initiatives that target specific identity groups. Though the memo provided guidance to federal agencies, it was not binding.

Eight University of Alabama students sued the university’s board of trustees in March, arguing that the closures violated the First Amendment. A district court denied a preliminary injunction that would have reversed the closures in May.

The eight student plaintiffs appealed the district court’s decision June 15. 

“Reducing student publications to instruments of university messaging defeats their educational purpose and undermines the development of responsible journalism and media professionals,” the brief states.

The magazines’ closure also came after President Donald Trump issued a January 2025 executive order directing the federal government to cancel all programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion. 

“Student journalists have proven time and time again that they play a vital role on campus and beyond in their relentless pursuit of the truth and commitment to holding people with power to account,” Daily Bruin Editor-in-chief Alexandra Crosnoe said in a written statement. “While the Daily Bruin is independent from UCLA, we are still concerned by the chilling effect this ruling could have nationwide on that important work.”

SPLC said in its analysis of the ruling that it could be used by public universities to withdraw funding from student publications. Publications focused on specific communities, identity groups or issues may be particularly vulnerable, according to SPLC’s analysis. 

Student newspapers and magazines, often funded by their universities, publish content that may not depict the university funding it favorably, which leaves student publications vulnerable to censorship, according to the brief.

“The next student journalist who uncovers a university president’s research fraud, or reveals toxic mold in campus housing, or reports that public funds have been misused, will first have to ask whether her publication is next on the chopping block,” the brief states. “That calculation, that fear, is the chilling effect the First Amendment exists to prevent.”