THE latest edition of an award-winning York student newspaper has been scrapped after a threat of legal action.

York Vision will not now appear until the end of the month, following a row over a five-page investigative report that named a non-academic staff member at the centre of bullying allegations at the University of York.

Another version of the report was produced in which the staff member was not identified, but following advice from a lawyer for York University Students' Union (YUSU), the newspaper's publication was delayed so the entire news section could be re-done.

An individual - whom the Evening Press understands is the staff member at the centre of the allegations - had threatened to sue YUSU over the article in York Vision, which is The Guardian student newspaper of the year.

Its co-editor, third-year English student Jon Bentham, 21, carried out a month-long investigation after a number of current and former employees came forward with allegations.

The newspaper is funded by YUSU. Its services officer, Chris Osborne, confirmed that an article had been banned from publication following discussions between the union, the university, the student editorial team and lawyers.

"We simply can't afford to fight any legal action," he said.

Last month, York Vision printed an article containing leaked extracts of a confidential survey of non-academic staff into bullying and harassment.

York Vision asked any university staff who felt they had suffered such treatment to contact them. This led to the new story.

Jon said: "It was the biggest story we had ever done. When we approached the university, we were told this was staff management relations - it was not the job of a student newspaper to get involved.

"But we are a university paper, not just a student paper."

University spokeswoman Hilary Layton said the university itself had not threatened the newspaper with legal proceedings.

She declined to comment about the allegations.

Updated: 07:52 Friday, June 11, 2004