Spring Break
Chicken Drops Request for Montclarion Docs
Shayna Jacobs
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: News
The Student Government Association has ceased demands for the privileged information shared during the roughly 11-month attorney-client relationship between The Montclarion and its former counsel.
"We do not feel it would be beneficial to the students to spend their fees on court costs to clear up this matter," read SGA president Ron Chicken from his Feb. 12 letter to the legislature at Wednesday's meeting.
"Considering the fact that both parties are holding strong positions in this situation, the Executive Board has decided to drop its request for the correspondence," Chicken continued.
The Montclarion now has representation through the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey, in light of a Jan. 22 total budget freeze that silenced "The Student Voice of Montclair State University Since 1928." The newspaper did not run its Jan. 24 print edition and is on its third week working through a partial budget release - only publishing and office supply transfers are honored.
"We're pleased that the SGA is rescinding its request," said Edward Barocas, legal director for the ACLU of New Jersey and attorney for The Montclarion. "We have always, of course, recognized and known that the SGA had no authority to obtain the documents it requested."
During his report, Chicken implied that the remaining two allegations against The Montclarion - the "unauthorized" hiring of legal counsel and subsequent use of student funds for his services - were still in question, with a resolution pending a soon-to-be-arranged mediation. Chicken did not return calls for comment and left the general session early.
Although he told The Montclarion on Jan. 22 that the account hold would lift with the turnover of the correspondence, he declined to explain what the SGA still seeks now that the issue of the private documents is off the table.
Chicken's Nov. 30 release of Sal M. Anderton's services was the culmination of a string of coincidences. On Nov. 14, Montclarion Editor-in-Chief Karl de Vries publicly declared that the SGA's closed session was illegal and on Nov. 15, Chicken made a first attempt to fire Anderton, in a termination letter sent to his firm's old address.
"We do not feel it would be beneficial to the students to spend their fees on court costs to clear up this matter," read SGA president Ron Chicken from his Feb. 12 letter to the legislature at Wednesday's meeting.
"Considering the fact that both parties are holding strong positions in this situation, the Executive Board has decided to drop its request for the correspondence," Chicken continued.
The Montclarion now has representation through the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey, in light of a Jan. 22 total budget freeze that silenced "The Student Voice of Montclair State University Since 1928." The newspaper did not run its Jan. 24 print edition and is on its third week working through a partial budget release - only publishing and office supply transfers are honored.
"We're pleased that the SGA is rescinding its request," said Edward Barocas, legal director for the ACLU of New Jersey and attorney for The Montclarion. "We have always, of course, recognized and known that the SGA had no authority to obtain the documents it requested."
During his report, Chicken implied that the remaining two allegations against The Montclarion - the "unauthorized" hiring of legal counsel and subsequent use of student funds for his services - were still in question, with a resolution pending a soon-to-be-arranged mediation. Chicken did not return calls for comment and left the general session early.
Although he told The Montclarion on Jan. 22 that the account hold would lift with the turnover of the correspondence, he declined to explain what the SGA still seeks now that the issue of the private documents is off the table.
Chicken's Nov. 30 release of Sal M. Anderton's services was the culmination of a string of coincidences. On Nov. 14, Montclarion Editor-in-Chief Karl de Vries publicly declared that the SGA's closed session was illegal and on Nov. 15, Chicken made a first attempt to fire Anderton, in a termination letter sent to his firm's old address.
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