Kansan funding tentatively reinstated; KU and newspaper indicate resolution of lawsuit is pending

This screenshot shows the front page of the University Daily Kansan website, kansan.com, as it appeared Friday morning, March 11, 2016.

Kansas University and its student newspaper have reached a tentative agreement in a lawsuit filed earlier this year by The University Daily Kansan, according to a motion filed Friday in federal court.

The motion, filed jointly by KU and the Kansan, requests a 30-day stay in the case, saying that the parties expect to know by June 16 whether the tentative resolution will lead to dismissal of the case. On June 27, according to the motion, if a dismissal is not filed, litigation will move forward.

The Kansas Board of Regents meets next on June 15 and is expected to vote on KU’s tuition and fees proposal for the upcoming school year.

Getting its Student Senate funding slashed in half for the 2015-16 school year prompted the newspaper’s lawsuit. A $2 required campus fee for the Kansan was cut to a $1 fee, meaning the newspaper received about $45,000 instead of $90,000.

KU’s latest fee proposal, submitted to the Regents this month, now includes a $2.50 per semester fee for the Kansan in 2016-17, reinstating the newspaper’s former level of funding and then some. That’s a change from the fee package the Senate approved earlier in the spring semester, which left the Kansan fee at $1 for another year.

At its last meeting of the year, the Senate passed a bill from its Student Executive Committee raising the Kansan fee from $1 to $2.50 for 2016-17, the Kansan reported. According to the newspaper’s report, the Kansan will receive $2 per student of the student fee for the following two years, and after fiscal year 2019, the Kansan will no longer request funding from the Senate.

In February the Kansan, spring 2016 editor in chief Vicky Díaz-Camacho and former editor in chief Katie Kutsko sued KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little and vice provost for student affairs Tammara Durham.

The newspaper complained that Senate cut its funding based on content unflattering to the Senate, which Kansan leaders said violated the student newspaper’s constitutional press freedoms under the First Amendment. The suit names the two administrators because the chancellor or designee must ultimately sign off on student fee usage decisions made by the Senate, and did.

While the majority of Kansan funding comes from advertising revenue, editors said the cut was significant enough to force elimination of student positions and render the newspaper unable to fill the vacant faculty news adviser position.

Under KU’s current tuition and fees proposal, total required student campus fees would be $455 per student per semester in 2016-17, 50 cents lower than last year.

Senate leaders declined to elaborate for this story on reasons for voting to increase the Kansan’s fee.

“The KU office of the general counsel is working with the Kansan and its attorneys to negotiate a resolution of the litigation,” Senate communications director Connor Birzer said, in an email. “Therefore we cannot comment at this time.”