Two student newspapers in Virginia are fighting for their right to party--or at least to advertise one, reports the
Roanoke Times. Publications at both Virginia Tech and the University of
Virginia are suing over state rules that prohibit them from running any branded alcohol ads. And they have some of the best lawyers in the business backing them up, as the American Civil Liberties
Union of Virginia filed a federal lawsuit against the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control on their behalf of the papers. The suit charges that Virginia's regulations are violating the First
Amendment rights of the two papers, noting that other media are not restricted in the same way, despite being available to people under 21. Says Ellen Biltz, incoming editor of the
Collegiate
Times: "This isn't just for our newspaper. It's a violation of the rights of all the college publications." Meanwhile, the ACLU's legal director points out that a similar rule in Pennsylvania was
tossed out by a federal appeals court in 2004.
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