When administrators at Los Angeles City College slashed the budget of the campus' 80-year-old newspaper, the Collegian, they had no idea of the bad publicity the move would get the school.  KPCC FM's Adolfo Guzman-Lopez reports today that State Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) has “urged L.A. City College President Jamillah Moore to respect the free speech rights of student reporters.” Moore has been accused of financially retaliating against the paper for its critical coverage of school officials.

Collegian editor in chief Frank Elaridi was elated.

“I think,” he told Guzman-Lopez, “[it's] really important to not only have a politician stand behind what you're saying, especially when laws are involved and legal issues, but more importantly a senator who wrote some of the laws that [Moore]'s breaking.” Yee is a champion of protecting the rights of college newspapers.

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