The Reynolds School of Journalism will honor a courageous Nevada student editor and her principal and school superintendent March 4.
Lauren Mac Lean, Churchill County High School senior, will talk about her experiences at 4 p.m. in the Travis Linn Reading Room at the Fred W. Smith Ethics Seminar, part of the Reynolds School’s Journalism Week.
In January, Mac Lean reported that a Churchill County High School music teacher withheld some audition tapes for the state high-school honor choir from consideration by the Nevada Music Educators Association. The teachers’ union sought to suppress the story, saying it would make the teacher look bad.
The story appeared in the Greenwave Flash student newspaper when principal Kevin Lords and Dr. Carolyn S. Ross, the district superintendent, agreed that it should be published. The journalism school also will honor Lords and Ross.
“The principal and the school-district superintendent realize that experience, not censorship, is the best way to teach about the Constitution and about journalism,” said Jerry Ceppos, Reynolds School dean. “Student journalists – all of us, actually – can appreciate the life and professional lessons in Lauren’s experience.”
The seminar series is named for Smith, chairman of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, the journalism school’s biggest benefactor. The session is open to the public, as is all of Journalism Week; the week’s activities are listed at http://journalism.unr.edu/latestnews/app-news/0/129/playing-with-news/.
The Reynolds School of Journalism is Nevada’s only accredited journalism school.
