From the response to the motion to dismiss in Kay v. Irish Rover Inc. (filed by Kimberly D. Jeselskis, B.J. Brinkerhoff, and MacKenzie A. Watson of Jeselskis Brinkerhoff and Joseph LLC) (emphasis added):
[A.] Defendant's Motion Should Be Denied Because the Irish Rover's October 12 and March 22 Articles Regarding Professor Kay Were Not in Furtherance of the Right to Free Speech.
The Irish Rover presumes that as a student newspaper it is somehow automatically entitled to the protections of the First Amendment or the Indiana Constitution. However, this is simply not true. The Irish Rover is not entitled to First Amendment protection as it is a private student newspaper at a private university. The First Amendment was designed by its framers to foster unfettered discussion and free dissemination of opinion dealing with matters of public interest and governmental affairs. Mills v. Alabama, 384 U.S. 214, 218-219 (1966). The First Amendment, however, does not protect rights of speech and assembly against interference or impairment by private individuals. Lloyd Corp. v. Tanner, 407 U.S. 551 (1972).
