The Weekly Surge banned from distribution at CCU (update)

Update August 28th, 2013: The CCU/Weekly Surge battle has hit the national blogosphere.  

Tucker Carlson's conservative news outlet The Daily Caller has picked up the story of Coastal Carolina banning of The Weekly Surge. The Caller points out that:

CCU is a public university, and bound to follow the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of the press. But it is also an autonomous non-government institution, complicating the legal issues at stake.

Whether or not CCU is legally obligated to let the newspaper distribute on campus, administrators shouldn’t try to police their students personal habits...

Hop on over to The Daily Caller for their take on the situation


 

First Report August 21st, 2013: Coastal Carolina University has banned the distribution of The Weekly Surge, a popular weekly newspaper that focuses on "Alt" news. CCU has taken issue not with (all) the content of the paper but with their advertisers.

Speaking with The Sun News, CCU's Vice President of Student Affairs Debbie Conner, stated that most of their students were under the age of 21 and feels that the paper promotes underage drinking with their advertisements and editorials. Conner is quoted saying, 

"We’re working diligently to have positive conversations about alcohol abuse and alcohol consumption [...] Several of the articles were about fixing cocktails and reviewing happy hours. … That’s not something we want to promote to our students.”

The Weekly Surge is a publication of The Sun News. 

You can read The Sun News' account of the situation here

Is this a case of censorship or of the school trying to protect the well-being of their students? 

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