Editor’s Notes:
A lawyer retained by Dean of Student Services Mia McClellan has informed Southwestern College President Dr. Melinda Nish that McClellan is preparing to sue The Sun student newspaper and its faculty advisor for $5 million.
Los Angeles attorney Dale L. Gronemeier informed SWC outside counsel Trevin E. Sims that McClellan may sue Professor of Journalism Dr. Max Branscomb and The Sun for defamation of character related to an article titled “Former Sun photographer impersonated police chief” (Feb. 14, 2015). In the article McClellan denied communicating with an anonymous agitprop publication, even though her own college emails clearly indicated that she had. An anonymous publication that called itself The Jag Wire illegally accessed student records in its efforts to recruit and screen potential writers.
McClellan said that she never denied communicating with The Jag Wire and said the student journalists had misquoted her. In separate letters she demanded a retraction, then a correction. Both demands were denied 18-0 by The Sun’s Editorial Board, which stands firmly behind the story as completely accurate.
In March, theswcsun.com posted the segment of the interview in which McClellan denied communicating with The Jag Wire. Since that time she has accused Branscomb and the The Sun of editing the recording of her voice and publishing the segment out of context. Neither of McClellan’s charges are true. It was the intent of the Editorial Board of The Sun to publish the complete recording of the interview in April, but when McClellan began threatening to sue, the Board decided to seek its own legal advice.
Earlier this month student editors and Branscomb spoke to and subsequently met with a First Amendment attorney from the Student Press Law Center of Arlington,Virginia. They were advised to go ahead and post the entire interview. Following is the entire unedited recording of McClellans’s interview with student journalists Gabriel Sandoval and Nicholas Baltz conducted in her office on March 5, 2015:
Due to YouTube regulations The Sun was limited to time and has posted the interview in two parts. The parts are completely unedited.
Part one of complete interview:
Part two of complete interview: