University of Texas at Dallas: Student Media, Newsstand Policies Stifle Student Journalism

During a December 11, 2025 meeting between two student journalists and the Office of Student Media’s director and assistant director, student media leadership instructed student journalists that they could not “openly critique” another student media outlet — even when such critiques were requested by a student reporter. 

That directive came after other press freedom concerns in the fall semester. On August 25, 2025, University of Texas at Dallas President Prabhas Moghe informed independent student newspaper The Retrograde that it would be allowed to distribute newspapers in four areas of campus, per a system-wide rule. But The Mercury, a newspaper funded and supported by the university, was permitted to distribute its newspapers at 36 newsstand locations — nine times as many as its counterpart. Further, revised student media bylaws passed on November 7 undermine the student media’s access to editorial independence. 

FIRE’s Student Press Freedom Initiative wrote UT Dallas, urging the university to uphold its public commitments to student journalists and offered free services in revising its constitutionally deficient student press policies.