As the popularity of on-line student newspapers and literary magazines increases, so does the likelihood that these publications will be censored by college administrators. The big question is: Once words are converted from newsprint to digital format, does their First Amendment status change? This research paper examines a narrower question: Do First Amendment protections granted to student print publications at public colleges and universities apply to their on-line counterparts?

   The paper addresses that question in four sections. Part I examines the federal and state court decisions establishing First Amendment protections for student print publications and applies these to on-line student publications. Part II examines Federal Communications Commission rulings and court decisions affecting the rights of student broadcasters and applies these to on-line student publications. Part III explores public university liability for libel and privacy invasion by the student press, two court decisions regarding on-line service liability for potential libel, and the implications of these decisions for universities controlling the content of on-line student publications. Part IV reviews several rationales for extending First Amendment protections to all cyberspace publications.

   The paper concludes that on-line student publications at public colleges and universities are entitled to the same First Amendment protections afforded to their print forerunners. Exercising editorial content over the content of these on-line publications is not permissible, and, in fact, such control would seem to place schools at a greater risk of assuming liability for tortious statements made in those publications.