Bowling Green, Ky. - The "First Amendment First" celebration is one of five initiatives Western Kentucky University's School of Journalism and Broadcasting has planned to champion the First Amendment.

* The school has created assessments for their students about understanding the First Amendment, measuring student knowledge first as freshmen and then as seniors by testing their knowledge of the freedoms of the First Amendment and the ability to apply this knowledge to particular situations. This initiative has led to incorporating First Amendment Rights closely with the curriculum of almost all of the courses in the program.

* The school trained 36 students to participate in Kentucky's first open records audit this semester, testing local governments about their compliance with open records laws.

* The school conducted a First Amendment workshop for high school journalism students and advisers.

* The WKY Group, a research team within the School of Journalism and Broadcasting, is completing a book called "Contemporary First Amendment Issues" to provide case studies of task force investigations conducted by The Society of Professional Journalists to study recent cases of alleged infringements of the First Amendment on American college campuses. The book will be available for preview at the "First Amendment First" celebration on April 21.

"First Amendment First" also is sponsored by the Office of the Provost's American Democracy Project. The three-year project, involving 145 postsecondary institutions that began in 2003, is a partnership with The New York Times and The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement for Teaching. The program was created because research has indicated a significant decline in civic activities in the country and aims to get students involved through civic education and engagement.

"As a Program of Distinction, we felt a special obligation to be a very active participant in the goals of the American Democracy Project," said Dr. Pam McAllister Johnson, director of the School of Journalism and Broadcasting. "We did not have to make a stretch to contribute to the success of the project, though, because the goals of the project were also the goals of our school."

WKU's School of Journalism and Broadcasting has been a top competitor in the Hearst Foundation Intercollegiate Journalism Awards Competition, the collegiate equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. For the past several years, the school has ranked in the top four overall. The photojournalism program has placed first 14 of the past 16 years in Hearst competition and was second the other two years.

In 1999, the Council on Postsecondary Education approved the creation of the school's Center for 21st Century Media, which is designated as a Program of Distinction. The center provides an umbrella under which the school is expected to provide programs for students, educators and professionals in Kentucky.

The School of Journalism and Broadcasting houses six sequences. The five nationally accredited professional majors are photojournalism, news/editorial journalism, broadcasting, advertising and public relations. The school also houses an interdisciplinary mass communication major designed to prepare students for graduate school.

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Pam Johnson at (270) 745-4143.