By Sequoia Gregorich, Co-Content Editor
It is ever more crucial that students of the United States today, with their strong voices and opinions, are educated on their freedom of speech rights. This article will give to you a small sample of the rights we as students are permitted and denied in our schools.
Dress Code and Disruptions:
In the 1969 case Tinker v. Des Moines, the Supreme Court ruled that in order for a school to curtail a student’s First Amendment rights, the student must be causing a substantial disruption in the educational process. The Court ruled in favor of the families of three students who had worn black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War, and had subsequently been suspended by their school district.
The case prohibited what the court called “viewpoint discrimination,” meaning schools could not suspend a student’s First Amendment rights simply because they expressed an opinion the school disagreed with. For example, under the ruling, a student wearing bright lights can be suspended by their school, but a student with a “Hillary for Prison” T-shirt cannot be punished. This is where the fine line between disruption and free speech is declared.
There are some exceptions. Certain symbols or statements, such as the Confederate flag, are commonly known to cause a type of controversy unwelcome in public schools.
The Pledge of Allegiance:
The Establishment Clause of the Constitution prohibits the government and public institutions, including schools, from enforcing any students to recite the Pledge. This decision was made in the 1943 Supreme Court case West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. It was brought forth by Jehovah’s Witnesses, as their religion forbids the practice of saluting a symbol.
Lewd Speech:
In 1983, senior Matthew Fraser addressed the entire student body during an assembly in hopes of getting his friend elected as student body vise president. The speech was compelling, however it contained multiple sexual innuendos. Disciplinary action was taken, but Fraser argued freedom of speech applied. Fraser v. Bethel School District the Supreme Court ruled that under the so-called “Fraser Standard,” public schools are allowed to punish lewd and provocative speech. The “Fraser Standard” still holds today.
Drug Speech:
In 2007, the Supreme Court banned forms of expression which encourage the use of illegal substances from public schools. after an Alaskan teenager stood on a street corner near the school holding a sign which read “Bong Hits For Jesus.” This comical, yet controversial sign led many debates still going on to this day on issues involving school grounds rights, drug speech at schools, and of course freedom of speech.
Threats:
In the aftermath of the Columbine School massacre, schools across the U.S. began expelling and suspending many students for forms of expression depicting or describing violence of any sort. In La Vigne v. Blaine School District, the court ruled in favor of a student who was expelled after writing an eerie poem about a school shooting because the poem contained no direct threat. Therefore, the school could not censor or punish their speech.
School Newspapers:
In the Supreme court case of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, the school censored a school newspaper containing opinions on controversial issues like divorce and teenage pregnancy. The Court ruled that teachers have the grounds to censor a student publication because the students received a grade for such publications, and so it therefore fell under the teacher’s jurisdiction over the class curriculum. A school’s principal or administrator, however, is still constrained by Tinker v. Des Moines and must prove a disruption of the educational process in order to censor a student publication. Schools also have the right to censor anything deemed to be endangering the safety and health of students. As vague as that is, many districts use it as a means to justify censoring many forms of student expression.
However, at our school, our free speech rights are respected much more as our newspaper reaches a public forum. Our principle gives the final say in what is published to our Adviser, and in turn, our Advisor almost always gives the final say to students.
Every school district is different, meaning that there is a wide range of freedom of speech permissiveness.