SIUE Student Newspaper Conflict Leads to First Amendment Questions, Accuracy Concerns and Police Involvement
Student press freedom and reporting accuracy are at the center of a growing dispute at SIUE. Nicole Franklin and Dylan Hembrough share competing accounts of how the conflict unfolded.
EDWARDSVILLE - The conversations around accurate reporting and student press freedom at SIUE continue.
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Tensions at SIUE have heated up as university administrators criticize the student newspaper’s reporting and student journalists say their First Amendment rights are at risk. Following a police report and a Student Code of Conduct investigation, Communications Director Nicole Franklin and “The Alestle” editor-in-chief Dylan Hembrough shared their sides of the story.
In July 2026, Franklin told a “The Alestle” reporter that she would sit in on an interview with an SIUE staff member and record the conversation. When asked if her presence was required for the interview to move forward, Franklin told “The Alestle” reporters and faculty adviser Tammy Merrett that she ultimately decides if and how a university staff member will complete an interview with “The Alestle” and stated her presence at interviews was “nonnegotiable.”
SIUE has clarified that the SIUE staff member requested Franklin’s presence at the interview “because the employee lacked confidence in ‘The Alestle’s’ reporting, including concerns about the possibility of being misquoted or mischaracterized,” according to an official university statement.
Student reporters reached out to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC). These organizations argue that the university’s decision to require a “media minder” to attend interviews was a violation of the First Amendment.
Franklin has pushed back against these claims. She also said that the conflict is putting her safety at risk.
“I spent three decades in broadcast network newsrooms and as a documentary filmmaker, a career on which First Amendment freedoms are the foundation of my life’s work,” Franklin said. “My career began as a student journalist myself. Press coverage based on an accusation that was misconstrued has led to an environment that is dangerous to my personal safety.”
On Sept. 4, 2026, Franklin contacted the SIUE Police Department to discuss safety concerns, as her office door does not have a lock. She shared that Alestle reporters have previously “barged” into the office unannounced last spring, and she inquired about pursuing a no-contact order.
In a letter from the editor published on Oct. 1, “The Alestle” managing editor Gavin Quinlan argued encounters like this “were not threatening in nature,” but the result of journalists working on a tight deadline. Quinlan added that “visiting an official in a publicly accessible office is a valid way to obtain” needed statements from that official.
Franklin also forwarded an email from Hembrough that she felt “misrepresent[ed]” the Communications Department to several department heads to encourage a review of Hembrough’s actions, suggesting he had violated the Student Code of Conduct. On Sept. 18, Dean of Students Dr. Mindy Dilley replied that she could not identify a violation of the code.
Hembrough argued that this was “an egregious and unwarranted overstep into [his] educational life.”
“I’ve had people ask if I’ve been worried about academic retaliation, and I haven’t been, and I’m still not incredibly worried about it,” he said. “But knowing that that’s an avenue she’s willing to go down is a little frightening.”
After Franklin’s discussion with the SIUE Police Department, the officer advised Franklin to file a police report, which she did. “The Alestle” shared this information, which prompted several other media outlets to share the story.
In an Oct. 1 letter to the editor published in “The Alestle,” Franklin reiterated that reports that she would “suppress First Amendment freedoms” are “entirely untrue,” and that she did not file charges with SIUE PD against a student but followed the advice of a police officer who recommended she file a police report for documentation purposes.
In the past few weeks, Franklin says she has received “online public threats,” a “threatening voicemail,” and emails that include “slurs and statements expressing an apparent intent to cause harm.” In the Oct. 1 letter, Quinlan wrote that “The Alestle” does not condone this and no Alestle reporters have made threatening or harassing comments.
“‘The Alestle’ has not engaged in and does not condone any form of harassment against anybody, including SIUE employees and administrators. Name-calling and bigotry do not support us in any way, no matter who they’re directed toward. Making people feel unsafe is the last thing we want to do,” Quinlan wrote. “Any harassment Franklin or any other SIUE employee may have experienced is completely unaffiliated with and strongly condemned by ‘The Alestle.’”
Several other university administrators have weighed in. In an official university statement, SIUE reiterated its commitment to training student journalists and sponsoring “The Alestle.”
“This has never been about free speech or freedom of the press,” the statement reads. “The real issue is the lack of journalistic principles of objectivity, truthfulness, and accuracy. Calling for accuracy is not interference. ‘The Alestle’ has repeatedly published information that is inaccurate and, despite requests for corrections, has been slow or unwilling to make them.”
Paula Bridges, the executive director of University Marketing and Communications, wrote an open letter in which she said a story describing Franklin’s request to attend the initial July 2026 interview was “fiction presented as facts.” She added she has been “deeply troubled by what seems to be a disregard for accuracy and facts by ‘The Alestle.’”
“University Marketing and Communications fully supports a free and independent student press,” Bridges wrote. “Demanding truthful, objective, accurate reporting is not censorship, control, or prior review. We remain committed to constructive engagement with ‘The Alestle’ and will continue working with student reporters, as we always have.”
Bridges has since left the university.
In response to accuracy concerns, Hembrough encouraged anyone who has concerns to reach out to “The Alestle.” He noted that “regular sources” come to the newspaper with “evidence” when they request a correction, which is then “pretty easy to fulfill.” However, he said the newspaper’s staff “really take issue with false claims of inaccuracy” from administrators.
“If people have genuine concerns about our reporting and accuracy, then tell us and bring receipts,” he said. “We have no problem making a correction. Our problem is when people accuse us of inaccuracy and then refuse to tell us what's supposedly wrong. And more often than not, that’s what’s happening with administration.”
In a letter to the editor published by “The Alestle” on Aug. 1, Dominic Dorsey, director of the university’s ACCESS program, acknowledged the “war of words debating accuracy in reporting, objective truth and freedom of the press.” He said that he has personally been affected by reporting inaccuracies and “paraphrased or amputated quotes” in “The Alestle.”
He also argued that the newspaper has intensified its “highly critical and oppositional reporting” in the past few years since Dr. James T. Minor was appointed as chancellor. In his letter, Dorsey presented “nagging questions and the underlying implications,” including his concerns that these criticisms, inaccuracies, and Franklin’s dispute have been elevated because the subjects are Black.
Following Dorsey’s letter, Hembrough said he reached out to Dorsey privately, explained the newspaper’s process and pointed to examples of critical reporting of white administrators. He added that Minor, Franklin and Bridges were all “most central to the story,” which is why they continually came up in reporting by “The Alestle.”
Hembrough said that he “laughed” upon hearing Franklin’s statement that she didn’t call the police on a student. He said the relationship between the university and “The Alestle” has had its issues for years.
“You can say you didn’t call the police as much as you want. You filed a police report against a student who was then the subject of a police investigation. You cannot wordsmith your way out of that, and the fact that her go-to line is, ‘The press has this all wrong every time’ — it solidifies what our experience over the last few years has been,” he said. “I think the average person would look at this timeline of events and reasonably conclude that Nicole Franklin's actions against me, in particular, could constitute retaliation or intimidation.”
More information will be shared as it becomes available.
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