Overview
- Students delivered petitions to administrators on Dec. 8 with more than 2,800 signatures calling for the magazines’ reinstatement.
- Alumni nonprofit MASTHEAD opened a $25,000 fundraiser to finance spring 2026 independent print runs, student pay and overhead, likely under new names unless the university releases the titles.
- The University of Alabama says it will fund a new, broader-scoped student magazine next academic year and maintains that students’ First Amendment rights remain intact.
- Vice President for Student Life Steven Hood cited a July 29 memo from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on “unlawful proxies” as the reason for the Dec. 1 suspensions.
- Editors and press-rights advocates contend the shutdown amounts to viewpoint discrimination, noting the magazines did not restrict who could contribute to or read them.