The Board of Trustees at Clark College, rejecting the unanimous recommendation of a faculty committee, denied tenure last week to the adviser of the college’s student newspaper in a move that some believe was designed to quash dissent against the administration.

According to The Columbian, a local newspaper in Vancouver, Wash., the journalism professor, Christina Kopinski, fought the administration’s desire to prescreen articles before they were published and advocated a more aggressive brand of journalism when she took over as faculty adviser to The Independent, in 2006. The newspaper subsequently published a number of articles criticizing campus security and certain administrative decisions.

While Clark’s president, Robert Knight, said the accuracy of some of The Independent’s reporting had been questionable, he denied that the articles or Ms. Kopinski’s new philosophy had anything to do with the board’s decision. Sherry Parker, president of the college’s board, told the Columbian she was “very confident that the process was done properly.”

Don Erskine, a long-serving English professor who was on the committee that reviewed Ms. Kopinski’s file and who voted to recommend her for tenure, told The Columbian that her tenure file contained no compromising information. Several of Ms. Kopinski’s colleagues and some of her journalism students said the board was trying to silence criticism.

Ms. Kopinski, who said she believes her contract was violated, is reportedly filing a grievance against the college. —Steve Kolowich

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported that “Sandy Williams,” a veteran English professor like Mr. Erskine, had served on Ms. Kopinski’s tenure committee. The Columbian has since corrected its account to refer to her as Sandy Woodward, who has been on the Clark faculty for 20 years but did not serve on Ms. Kopinski’s tenure committee.