College faces lawsuit over publication dispute

A lawsuit was filed June 4 against Columbia College and its journalism department’s student-run publication ECHO magazine in response to nude photographs that the publication printed in its Winter/Spring 2003 issue.

According to the lawsuit, a woman—who is named only as “Jane Doe”—is suing the magazine, Columbia, ECHO’s advisers and the student photojournalist who took the photographs, as a result of the publication of the “two prominent full-color, glossy photographs” taken of her modeling nude for a drawing class at Columbia without her permission.

The student photojournalist, as with many other students involved with ECHO, has also worked with the Columbia Chronicle, the student newspaper of the college.

The lawsuit said that Doe has worked as a figure model for 10 years and a model for Columbia for eight years. She alleged that the photographs and the manner in which they were taken have caused her “the violation of her right to privacy, her harmed reputation, loss of commercial gain, commercial loss, emotional distress and out-of-pocket expenses.”

The photographs were printed in conjunction with an article entitled, “Go Figure, Nude Models Animate Life Drawing Classes.”

Her complaints are related to a date during last fall’s semester, when, according to the lawsuit, the student photojournalist entered the drawing class session, with the permission of the teacher instructing the class. The student photojournalist came to the class with the intention of taking photos of the art students, their drawings and the professor of the class for ECHO, the publication the photojournalist was working on during the fall for college credit.

According to the lawsuit, Doe allowed the student photojournalist to remain in the closed session class because of his intentions to photograph the class and not her.

“Not one defendant notified Ms. Doe that the nude photographs had been taken, would be produced, and/or would be published,” read a portion of the lawsuit.

Doe didn’t see the photographs until she happened upon the printed article in ECHO magazine one day this past April when she was leaving a Columbia building, according to the lawsuit.

She also filed a complaint within the lawsuit regarding the first paragraph of the actual story that alludes that nude modeling may be compared to prostitution.

According to Columbia officials, the school has not yet been served with the actual lawsuit.

“We have not yet received a copy of the complaint and cannot respond or comment until we have an opportunity to review the document,” according to a statement from the school.