Cardinal staff, law students to cover Supreme Court decision
The Scott Southworth case originated at the UW-Madison and is a dispute over the right to associate, or not associate, with others. Student fees are mandatory at UW and other public campuses. Student government reallocates fees to organizations. The plaintiffs argue this reallocation to causes with which they disagree amounts of forced association with those causes. The plaintiffs have two favorable decisions. The University appealed to the Supreme Court and it will be heard this term.
Journalism and law students will provide Daily Cardinal coverage of the Southworth case before the US Supreme Court in fall 1999. The case will have a direct impact of the "shape" of the campus and every other public university in the country, directly or indirectly affecting every student on every campus, given the Constitutional issue of right of association.
This joint coverage project's goal is to develop the most knowledgeable, responsible and productive coverage team on this case. However, the students must cover the story in Washington when it is argued and where additional learning opportunities exist. To date, The Daily Cardinal has been unsuccessful in funding students' travel. The Cardinal hopes for (but is not guaranteed) donations from alumni, journalists and attorneys to cover lodging in Washington.
It is the first time in memory that the Law School and an undergraduate program have collaborated on a project, with obvious relevance to both -- journalism and law. And in light of the magnitude of the case, this is an unprecedented effort by students to share their knowledge and skills with other students on an issue that affects every student.
This project implements The Daily Cardinal's new mission that states the Cardinal is organized "for educational purposes" and the pursuit of The Wisconsin Idea. Last spring, The Cardinal sponsored, in connection with the campus Sesquicentennial, a "Future of Journalism Forum." This for-credit project is mentored by the board of directors of The Daily Cardinal Media Corporation (Jeff Smoller) and supervised by faculty (Prof. Robert Drechsel of Journalism and Brady Williamson of Law). Lessons from this exercise will influence if there should be future initiatives to jointly teach law and journalism students.
The Daily Cardinal Southworth project involves the following:
- 14 law students and Daily Cardinal staffers working as coverage teams.
- Spot news coverage and in-depth analysis in up to 18 4-page and 3 8-page supplements.
- Posting news, briefs, rulings, and source documents for reference on a web site for other papers to use.
- Sharing stories with student and non-student papers.
- Lectures and appearances by attorneys and parties to the case; and reporters and jurists who can help explain the case.
- Team members available for lecture and interview.
- A report of products and lessons learned.
Other projects associated with the case may develop. At the project's end, the learning experience will be evaluated and reviewed in the context of future efforts between the School of Journalism and Mass Communications and Law School.