College newspapers are interesting animals. Just like mainstream newspapers, they seek to provide readers with the information and editorial guidance they need to be free and contributing members of the communities to which they belong. Unlike mainstream newspapers, though, college newspapers serve a community that is a strange mix of the protean and the constant. While the identity of faculty, staff and administrators may not change drastically from year to year-facilitating the development of institutional traditions-the identity of the student body is, in fact, quite fluid. One of the mechanisms many college newspapers have for dealing with this fluidity and keeping themselves relevant is so-called "student control." The people who make the decisions at the paper change as the student body changes, guaranteeing that students will be able to put their own stamp on the coverage that serves their community and not be subject to the standards or proclivities of a community that no longer exists. Last November, the editorial reins of the Justice were handed off to the next generation when Dan Hirschhorn '07 stepped down as editor in chief, and members of the paper's editorial board chose Rachel Marder '08 to be their leader. The seamlessness of this transition might not ordinarily elicit comment, except that also in November, staff members at the University of Southern California's Daily Trojan learned the student control exemplified by Marder's succession is not universal.

In a move that captured the attention of the Chronicle of Higher Education and prompted 18 college dailies to publish jointly written, critical editorials on Dec. 5, an administrator at USC blocked the reappointment of Zach Fox, who had been chosen by a majority of the staffers at the Trojan to serve as editor in chief. Throughout the semester, Fox had pushed for more control over the budget given to the paper by the school, and many at USC believe this is the reason the administration denied his reappointment.

Management decisions at the Trojan have always been subject to the approval of a board made up of Student Affairs administrators and faculty at USC's journalism school. The rationale for this, in the words of the university's own policy statement, is that USC, "as the publisher of the Trojan, bears the legal responsibility for the contents of the newspaper." School policy also requires the Trojan to state in each issue that "the opinions expressed in the newspaper are not necessarily those of the college, university, or student body."

The Justice carries a similar statement. Readers are advised that the paper's editorials "represent the opinion of a majority of the voting members of the editorial board," but that "all other articles, columns, comics and advertisements do not necessarily." So then who bears responsibility for the content of the paper? The fine print states unequivocally that the Justice is the "independent newspaper of Brandeis University" and that it is "operated, written, produced and published entirely by students." Yet, a large chunk of the funding for the paper comes from the Student Activity Fee that is collected and distributed by Brandeis, and staff members work out of a rent-free office in the Shapiro Campus Center. That means if the Justice were to ever find itself in legal trouble, it would be Brandeis University's name on the lawsuit-which begs the question, then, of how the "independence" that is said to characterize the relationship between Brandeis and the Justice is defined.

Turns out the answer is "pretty tenuously." The Justice's constitution states that "the newspaper shall always remain a student responsibility," but this is not a document put out by the University administration, and according to Assistant Dean of Student Life Alwina Bennett, the independence enjoyed by the Justice is an outgrowth of the "student-directed" tradition that has animated Brandeis since its founding. As a tradition, the Justice's independence can only be maintained so long as the people with the institutional memory-that is, those who make up the "less fluid" part of the Brandeis community-(have reason to) respect it.

It seems to me that it might be in the best interests of everyone involved if an effort were made to better define the independence that students at the Justice insist is a vital part of their paper's identity. What, exactly, this would involve, I cannot say-although compromises would undoubtedly have to be made by students and administrators. Still, I suspect no one at Brandeis wants to see what happened at USC happen here.

The ombudsman serves as the readers' representative, writing a regular column evaluating the newspaper's journalistic performance. Prof. Maura Farrelly (AMST), the director of the journalism program and a former brodcast reporter for Voice of America, can be reached at farrelly@brandeis.edu.