LITTLE ROCK, Ark, Sept. 26--A college newspaper editor did what no other reporter could do, and made himself $200 in the bargain, when he crossed army barricades today and entered Central High School.

Jim Elsman, 21, a boyish looking reporter for the Michigan Daily, passed easily for a high school student after showing guards a library card which he had borrowed from an unidentified girl.

Elsman, who was dressed in an open-necked sports shirt and slacks, wandered freely in the school corridors and attended several minutes of a geography class.

The geography teacher, after asking if Elsman were a new boy, learned the truth when students in the class called attention to the camera which Elsman had concealed behind a large text book. Elsman was marched summarily to the principal's office when he was labeled a "wise guy" for the Army to discipline.

After encounters with several officers Elsman was ejected from the school with the warning that he was jeopardizing the safety of students and the privileges of the press.

While in the building, Elsman had taken pictures of a Negro student, Jefferson Thomas, sitting with white students in a classroom. Outside, Elsman explained that he had never taken a picture in his life, but a representative of Life magazine quickly produced two $100 bills to purchase the contraband film. The Michigan reporter lost little time in turning his camera over to four Life photographers for unloading.

After some debate over how to remove the film from the simple Kodak, the photographers decided on a method, unfortunately the wrong one. Elsman's film exposed to harsh sunlight, interest in his pictures fell off considerably, but the youthful reporter remained a feature attraction for television during the uneventful morning in front of Central High School today.