Hutchinson journalism instructor, president spar over First Amendment

A journalism instructor at Hutchinson Community College said he and his students had been locked out of their journalism computer lab by the school, which later decided to allow a final edition of the school paper to be published.

Alan Montgomery, a 17-year instructor and academic adviser at the college, said he was informed on Friday that he had been suspended from his job. He said the action was taken after several stories were published in the school’s newspaper – The Collegian – that were critical of its administration.

When reached on Tuesday, Hutchinson Community College president Carter File would not comment on Montgomery’s status but did confirm that several journalism-related classes had been canceled as of this week.

File also originally said the final spring semester issue of The Collegian, which had been due out on Friday, would not be published, but that decision was reversed later Tuesday night. File said the journalism computer lab would be opened so that students can work on the edition but that a college employee would be present while this happens. Finals week at the school, marking the end of the semester, begins Monday.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Montgomery said. “I’ve been involved in journalism for 40 years. I’m wondering if a college president has ever just locked access to their school’s newspaper.”

According to Montgomery, a rift between the college’s administration and those who publish The Collegian began after the newspaper ran two pieces on Dec. 2 partially related to the alleged bullying of a faculty member by the school’s leadership.

Montgomery said that two journalism students were threatened with discipline after the Dec. 2 edition came out. Two more stories ran in the paper’s April 28 edition, Montgomery said, that chronicled the mistreatment of the students by the school’s administration after the original two pieces.

On Monday, Montgomery said, the situation came to a head when students found themselves locked out of the journalism lab. The students were later told, he said, that four courses – introduction to mass communication, newspaper production and two photography classes – were canceled effective immediately.

File said that students – about 20 are affected – will be given grades based on coursework already done in the classes. Montgomery said the college’s administration has engaged in a “culture of bullying” for the past couple of years. File was selected by the college’s Board of Trustees to replace former president Ed Berger in 2014.

“I completely disagree with Mr. Montgomery’s ‘culture of bullying’ statement,” File said. “I do not agree with that characterization at all.”

In the April 28 edition of The Collegian, reporter Chris Conde wrote that one of the students was “extremely fearful that a bullying, irrational HCC administration will lash out in a hateful, criminal fashion and expel her” before she graduates.

Fearing that the students would eventually face expulsion, Montgomery said he took money out of his retirement fund to arrange for a lawyer to represent them in any future proceedings. In April, he also sent a complaint to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wichita about the alleged abuse of his journalism students.

Montgomery also said that hundreds of copies of the April 28 edition of The Collegian were temporarily confiscated by the administration on Monday, though File said that all issues of the edition were distributed around campus by Student Government Association members.

File denied an accusation that the school tried to limit distribution of the papers on Monday, adding that some copies had already been placed at one drop-off location on Friday. File said that, as of Tuesday, plans were for the school’s newspaper to continue publishing in the fall.

“These accusations don’t ring true,” File said. “We absolutely respect the students’ First Amendment rights.”

The May 5 edition of The Collegian was to have scheduled year-end pieces, including recognition for employees who are retiring from the school, according to the Hutchinson News.

Montgomery said he doesn’t know what his future at the school will be – or if he will have one – but said he wants to return to his duties as soon as possible.

This story was originally published May 2, 2017 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Hutchinson journalism instructor, president spar over First Amendment."