By Francis Lopez
J Camp Live! Staff Writer

When in doubt about your student rights, turn to Professor and Knight Chair in Scholastic Journalism at Kent State, Mark Goodman.

On Saturday, 42 aspiring journalists – including me — met Goodman, who gave students advice on how to deal with their high school publications if any problem came up that could be a violation of student press law rights.

Juniors and seniors from all over the country traveled to Los Angeles through a program called the Asian American Journalists Association Journalism Camp, or J Camp.

Even though Goodman wasn’t the most “Hollywood” speaker that we learned from, he made more of an impact on me than Jimmy Kimmel. I enjoyed Kimmel’s speech and inspiring story. However, it didn’t compare to the impact I can make in my high school with Goodman’s advice.

Goodman, former executive director of the Student Press Law Center, works on cases that involve student press law violations, and he gave me the perfect way to deal with what I considered the violation of my first amendment rights from October when I was kicked out of a football game I was photographing. As far as I know, I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Other witnesses could also back that up.

I was also involved in the Student Athletic Training Program. Earlier that day the team had practice and I was there in my role as a trainer. I told my supervisors that I had to leave early to get the equipment to shoot the game later that night. They did not voice any objections at that time.

Once we were all at the game, I was told to leave because they did not think I had fulfilled my trainer duties earlier. But I had permission to leave early.

While they punished me as a trainer, it prevented me from doing my job as a photographer for the yearbook. While the editors of school paper and yearbook met with the football coach and the head athletic trainer, nothing was resolved. In fact, the situation worsened. I was kicked out again — this time permanently — from the Student Athletic Training Program.

Although this happened almost a year ago, Goodman said there was still a chance to do something about the situation. He said to contact the Student Press Law Center for possible remedies.

Goodman’s advice is priceless. His speech made me realize that there are people like him out there who could help defend those who believe their first amendment rights have been violated.

Hearing him speak, I am now considering studying law, specifically to help other students who might find themselves in a similar situation.

As a gift, Goodman gave each J Camper a copy of his book, “The Starting Point: You Journalists and the Law.” I’m certainly looking forward to reading it and learning more about the rights I have as a high school journalist. He has inspired me, and I will never forget the helpful advice he gave.