Education
PSC Reframes Magazine Issue—But the Core Question Remains Unanswered
The administrator who blocked Just Opposed now says the magazine was never an approved PSC publication. She’s not mentioning the Stop WOKE Act.
Pensacola State College’s top academic affairs administrator has sent a follow-up email to English professor Marisa Mills, reframing the suppression of the student arts-and-culture magazine Just Opposed—this time without any mention of the Stop WOKE Act that she allegedly cited when she first pulled the plug.
In the email, obtained by Inweekly, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Brenda K. Kelly told Mills there is “some confusion” about the college’s position and asked her to ensure students understand their publication options.
- “Because PSC currently has three active student publication venues, we are not considering a fourth at this time,” Kelly wrote. “By following the submission guidelines, all interested PSC students may submit their writing, including the articles written this term in the Reporting I class, to these publications.”
The three publications Kelly referenced are The Corsair, the college’s student newspaper; The Kilgore Review; and Hurricane Review. She also noted that “additional non-PSC publication venues student writers can explore” exist beyond the college.
A Shifted Rationale
The memo marks a notable shift in the college’s stated position. When Kelly met with Mills on April 29, according to a letter sent by Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) to PSC, she cited the Stop WOKE Act as the reason three articles covering queer culture and a student’s experience with racism could not be published. That justification drew a sharp response from FIRE, which called it unconstitutional prior restraint and warned PSC administrators they could face personal liability for monetary damages.
Kelly’s new memo makes no mention of the Stop WOKE Act. Instead, it repositions the block as a publication-status question — Just Opposed was never an approved PSC publication, and the college isn’t adding a fourth sanctioned outlet. That framing tracks with what Kelly told FIRE in her earlier written response, when she described the printing as “optional, not required.”
- “Because PSC currently has three active student publication venues, we are not considering a fourth at this time.”
That argument has a significant problem. Just Opposed was not proposed as a new standing publication. It was a one-time collaborative class assignment between journalism and graphic design students — built over an entire semester, with departmental funding already allocated for printing.
- Students had been shown prior editions of similar PSC arts and culture magazines as models at the start of the project. No one raised concerns for an entire semester until the week before the magazine was set to go to print, after all graded work had already been submitted.
PSC student Casey Hignite, whose work appears in the suppressed magazine, told Inweekly the timeline alone undermines the college’s position.
“There were countless opportunities to check in and voice any concerns sooner than the week before it got sent to print. We expected from the beginning to receive a published work to use for our portfolios.”
The Question Kelly Didn’t Answer
Kelly’s memo suggests students submit their Reporting I articles to The Corsair or the literary reviews through standard submission guidelines. But she does not address the central question her original intervention created: would the articles she reportedly flagged under the Stop WOKE Act—the pieces covering queer culture and the student’s account of experiencing racism—actually be accepted by those publications? Or would the same objections follow them there?
- That question goes directly to what FIRE identified as the constitutional violation. In its May 1 letter to PSC President C. Edward Meadows, FIRE wrote that the college “cannot justify an egregious prior restraint on purely protected expression” and that the Stop WOKE Act provides no legal cover for the decision—not under the DEI funding provision, and not under the anti-discrimination provision either.
FIRE’s letter was explicit: “There is no evidence that Mills or her students impermissibly discriminated based on sexual orientation, race, or any other protected class in selecting and editing these articles.” The letter further warned that the First Amendment “does not tolerate laws that cast a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom,” and that PSC’s intervention into Mills’s classroom violated her academic freedom regardless of how the college frames it.
Hignite said the students see through the reframing.
“I would argue that the preferential treatment constitutes favoring articles that don’t mention Black people and don’t mention gay people. It’s completely obviously aimed towards an agenda.”
Students Still Pursuing Independent Publication
The students involved in Just Opposed are not waiting on the college. Hignite told Inweekly the writing and graphic design students are working together to find independent funding, including a potential crowdfunding campaign, to print the magazine on their own. The college’s allocated budget for the project had been $800 for approximately 100 copies.
“We are looking into other sources of funding. The writers and the graphic designers are working together to figure out how to still get this published.”
Next Step for FIRE
I emailed Dominic Coletti of FIRE this morning about what his organization’s next step is:
We’re meeting with some of the involved students this week and plan to write a follow-up early next. I’ll make sure you have a copy when that’s written. Thanks, Dominic
Breaking: FIRE Demands PSC Lift Censorship
Interview with Dominic Coletti of FIRE on Student Censorship
Pensacola State College Responds to FIRE
PSC Student Speaks Out on Censorship Charge
Dr. Kelly’s Email
Dr. Mills,
There seems to be some confusion regarding Pensacola State College’s stance on publishing the articles written by students in your Reporting I class; I hope you will ensure that students have the correct information. As you know, the College currently sponsors three award-winning student publications—The Corsair, The Kilgore Review, and Hurricane Review. By following the submission guidelines, all interested PSC students may submit their writing, including the articles written this term in the Reporting I class, to these publications. Because PSC currently has three active student publication venues, we are not considering a fourth at this time. Of course, there are additional non-PSC publication venues student writers can explore as well. Thank you, in advance, for helping your students understand the opportunities they have to be published.
Brenda K. Kelly, Ed.D.
Associate Vice President, Academic Affairs
Pensacola State College