Up to students to protect First Amendment rights

North Star Staff Editorial

As Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas wrote in 1969, "It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the school house gates."

This argument seems obvious to students today. But it took the authority of the Supreme Court to establish this fact and protect students’ rights. Since the time that these rights were established, the Court has actually been revoking them.

Original rights: Tinker
In the Tinker v. Des Moines, Iowa case, in 1969, the Supreme Court ruled that it was against the First Amendment for school administrators to punish three students who wore black armbands, as symbolic speech, to protest the Vietnam War. In this landmark case, the Supreme Court established that students and teachers do have rights in school.

Not everyone agrees with this decision, though. In the Tinker case, there were two dissenting justices who claimed that "disruptive" symbolic speech should be banned from school, even though there was no documentation that the students with the armbands caused a disruption.

Revoking freedoms: Hazelwood
The once minority opinion, that when students speak their mind it is disruptive, is becoming dangerously more prominent today. It is something students must fight against, as since the Tinker case, students’ rights have been revoked on multiple occasions by the Supreme Court. In the Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier case in 1988, the Supreme Court ruled that public high school administrators have the right to censor school publications even if it does not cause a substantial disruption. This case dealt a blow to students’ First Amendment rights, as it meant students are now subjected to censorship of their speech and press.

Thanks to the Hazelwood case, many students have had their voices doused, even close to home. In the spring of this year, in Woodburn, Ind., an adviser was released because one of her students wrote an opinion column advocating tolerance of gays. While people may not agree with the student writer’s position, she had a right to express her opinion, although not according to Hazelwood.

Thankfully MCCSC’s publications policy, which was approved in 1978, does not allow interference from administrators unless they can prove substantial disruption. The MCCSC policy states that "official student publications will reflect the policy and judgment of the student editors," meaning publications are primarily under the control of the student editors. The North Star is very thankful for this, as it allows student publications to become public forums for issues pertinent to students, not just issues deemed appropriate by administrators.

More erosions of student freedoms
Despite this liberal MCCSC publications policy, students at North are still subjected to other national rulings regarding students’ rights. These rights became even more endangered this summer.

In June, the Supreme Court ruled against student Joseph Frederick in what is commonly known as the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case. Frederick, a senior in high school at the time of the incident in 2002, was punished by his school principal for holding up a 14 foot sign that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" at a public event – the carrying of the Olympic torch through Juneau, Alaska. Frederick, who was 18, had attended the event with other students from his high school who were dismissed early to attend.

Supreme Court Justice David Souter questioned this ruling in a March 2007 report on CNN.com. "The school can make any rule that it wants on any subject restrictive of speech, and if anyone violates it, it’s disruptive?" Souter said. The way the Court ruled, this seems to be the case.

Although Frederick was at a public event, the Court ruled that because students had been allowed to leave school to attend the event, he was still under school supervision and the sign was a disruption to education. Therefore, this student was punished for expressing his freedom of speech in public.

What’s next?

If students can get in trouble for saying what they think, not only in school but also outside it, then what has become of America’s promise of freedoms? It is scary how much freedom we, as students, have lost and still might lose if these trends continue.

Our rights as students are in constant jeopardy. Thankfully, MCCSC helps protect some of these rights, especially with its publication policy. But the North Star believes that it is the responsibility of students to know their rights and fight for them.