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Editors, however, also must be aware of what the Constitution does not require. For example, The Boston Globe or The Miami Herald need not open their pages to anyone who wants to write an article. The U.S. Supreme Court has stated, "A newspaper is more than a passive receptacle or conduit for news, comment, and advertising. The choice of material to go into a newspaper ... constitute[s] the exercise of editorial content and judgment." Similarly, if a fraternity member or a professor appears at the door of a college newspaper, demanding that the paper print a story he has written, the editors would be entitled to refuse his request out-of-hand. Determining the paper's editorial content and deciding what stories to print is solely the province of editors.

Generally, student editors are entitled ­­ and constitutionally permitted ­­ to make the same decisions regarding advertisements. Student editors at private universities or at a public university where the newspaper functions as a private, independent entity may accept or reject any ad. Courts generally view student newspapers (even those at public schools) as private when student editors ­­ and not school administrators ­­ make decisions about content, advertising policy and whether to accept advertisements. University regulation and subsidization do not transform a newspaper from a private body into an arm of the state or the university. Only when a newspaper's conduct is "fairly attributable to the state" or school would the Constitution require it to print an ad. It is highly unlikely, though, that a court would ever consider a collegiate newspaper anything but private.