The Amendment Man

by Hilary Powell
Reprinted from Medill Reports
Oct 17, 2007

Lugging fat file folders, a briefcase, and a freedom-fighting mission, 62-year-old Randy Swikle jokes that, judging by his job, his mid-life crisis should be now.

“I never knew retirement would be so busy,” Swinkle said.

He’s just back from a conference in Colorado. Wednesday, it’s off to the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater.

These days, Swikle’s a lean, muckraking, First-Amendment machine.

In 2003, Swikle retired from a 36-year teaching career in Johnsburg, Ill. Now he spends his days talking up First Amendment rights to first through 12th graders across the country.

Earlier this week, the U.S. House voted 398 to 21 to pass a bill that would extend stronger protections to journalists who use confidential sources.

Swinkle, who serves on the Board of the Illinois Press Foundation, says students need to know how the new Free Flow of Information Act may effect them as future reporters.

If it goes into law, the act sets the first federal standard that limiting the power of federal authorities to compel reporters to testify or to reveal documents and unidentified sources used in their reporting.

“A federal shield law would protect the press to do the work they’re supposed to do: hold people accountable for their actions, and hold the government accountable for its policies,” Swikle said. “It’s every students’ right to learn about the law that allows journalists to do this.”

Sue Montalvo, director of the Illinois First Amendment Center, says Swikle is helping to fulfill a federal mandate passed in 2004 to commemorate the day the Constitution was adopted.

“Congress says schools accepting federal funds must teach students K through 12 about the U.S. Constitution on September 17th of each year,” Montalvo says. “Many teachers didn’t know how to do this.”

In addition to receiving supplemental teaching materials from the state’s First Amendment Center, several school districts across the county have tapped Swikle to help spread the word on citizen’s rights.

Since 2003, Swikle estimates he’s given more than 100 presentations to school board members, teachers, and students.

The Illinois Press Foundation picks up the cost of his freedom flights across the country; but at times, Swikle goes on his own dollar.

The retired journalism teacher cut his teeth as a journalism adviser for the student newspaper at Johnsburg High School.

There, he worked hard to make sure his students had free rein to report on issues first, and worry about censorship, well, never.

Though he acknowledges they’re far from the intricacies of federal rules, Swikle uses examples from his teaching days during presentations to illustrate the importance of having transparency in official organizations.

Like when a Johnsburg High School official was charged with operating a motorboat under the influence, he recalled.

His folly made the front page of the school newspaper, he said.

Though the charges were later dropped, Swikle said his students published the story without worrying about being censored.

“Journalism involves controversy, and if you try to eliminate that you’re not supporting the role of the press in this country” he said. “Where else are (students) going to learn how to handle controversy if they’re not given the respect to practice the First Amendment?”

A former student, Nathan Charlan, who is now a series producer for programming on the Versus Network, says there’s no quitting for Swikle.

“ He’s working harder in his retirement than ever to make sure that freedoms aren’t taken for granted,” he said.

It appears that Swikle's mission won’t be amended anytime soon.

Reprinted with permission by Medill Reports