A federal appeals court will reconsider an April ruling that college newspapers have far greater free-speech rights than high-school newspapers do. The ruling, in a case involving Governors State University, was made by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. But the full court granted a motion by the university last week to throw out that decision, and all of the judges will now hear the case.

At issue in the case is whether a 1988 Supreme Court decision that allowed high-school administrators to review and censor student publications applies to student newspapers at public colleges. In that case, Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, the Supreme Court ruled that high-school journalists did not enjoy the same First Amendment protections as adults.

The Governors State case began when editors at the student newspaper, The Innovator, sued a dean after she ordered the newspaper's printer not to print the paper until its content was reviewed by a university official. But the dean argued, with the backing of the Illinois attorney general, that the case should be thrown out because the university has the authority to make such requests.

Advocates for student journalists are watching the case closely, and some say they are concerned about the court's decision to revisit the case.

"It's disappointing, certainly, because it was such a strong decision supporting student press freedom," said Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, a nonprofit group that has given legal help to the student editors who are plaintiffs in the case. "In my mind, it rarely means something good when a court agrees to rehear a case."

Chuck Connolly, a spokesman for Governors State, said the university would not comment on the case while it is pending.