Like normal newspapers, college newspapers are awarded most of the same First Amendment freedoms so therefore, Veronica (Kristen Bell) does have the right to protect her source. Had the Dean, played by Ed Begley Jr., actually expelled her on those grounds, she would've won a freedom of speech case against the college easily.
Viewed close-up, the body of the text of the Lampoon article is just lorem ipsum--scrambled Latin placeholder text commonly used in graphic design to demonstrate graphic design and layout without distracting content.
When Kurt (Armie Hammer) attacks Larry (Erik Eidem), shouting "Where's the playbook, Larry? You're entering a world of pain", this is one of several references throughout the series to the movie The Big Lebowski (1998).
Writers John Enbom & Phil Klemmer originally wanted to title this episode "Friday Night Sleights," until Rob Thomas told them that colleges don't play football on Fridays.