2. The First Amendment

3. “ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

4. When Religious Beliefs Collide With the Rights of Others Tyler Harper sued the Poway Unified School District in 2004 alleging his freedom of speech and religion rights were violated when he was pulled out of class earlier that year. The self-described Christian wore a shirt during the school “Day of Silence,” which is intended to promote tolerance of gays and lesbians. The shirt said “I Will Not Accept What God Has Condemned” on one side and “Homosexuality is Shameful, Romans 1:27” on the other. Harper was removed from class, but not otherwise disciplined. What do you think of this case?

5. When Religious Beliefs Collide With the Rights of Others Under the law, is there a difference between these two shirts? If you allow one, must you allow both? If so, why? If not, why not?

6. Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) John F. Tinker, 15 years old, and Christopher Eckhardt, 16 years old, attended high schools in Des Moines, Iowa. Mary Beth Tinker, John's sister, was a 13- year-old student in junior high school. In December 1965, a group of adults and students in Des Moines decided to publicize their objections to the hostilities in Vietnam and their support for a truce by wearing black armbands during the holiday season and by fasting on December 16 and New Year's Eve. On December 14, 1965, principals of the Des Moines schools announced a policy that any student wearing an armband to school would be asked to remove it, and if he refused he would be suspended until he returned without the armband. On December 16, Mary Beth and Christopher wore black armbands to their schools. John Tinker wore his armband the next day. They were all sent home and suspended from school until they would come back without their armbands.

7. Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) The United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Tinkers and Christopher Eckhart, claiming that the protest undertaken by the students did not intend to spark violence, destruction, damage or criminal activity. Because their protest was peaceful in nature, their expressions and speech were protected by the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution. The students were thus allowed to wear their black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War.

8. The Tinker Standard Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School Dist. (1969) Student speech cannot be censored as long as it does not “materially disrupt class work or involve substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others.”

9. Bethel School District v. Fraser (1986) Because school officials have an “interest in teaching students the boundaries of socially appropriate behavior,” they can censor student speech that is vulgar or indecent, even if it does not cause a “material or substantial disruption.”

10. Has your position changed? Based on the Tinker case, what do you think was the outcome of this case? Under the law, is there a difference between these two shirts? If you allow one, must you allow both? If so, why? If not, why not?

11. Brief Perhaps because of the T-shirt’s language, or because of the high concentration of homosexual students at Poway High School and the history of conflict between Poway’s homosexual and heterosexual students, or because of the self-proclaimed, strong religious convictions of Tyler Harper, the situation involving Harper’s T-shirt did not end after the day Harper spent in the principal’s office. Harper and his parents filed a lawsuit alleging that the school had violated Tyler’s free speech rights, among other claims. After the trial court dismissed part of Harper’s claim, a panel of the Ninth Federal Circuit Court of Appeals was called upon to balance and examine the rights of students in a school environment against the rights of school officials to assert their authority.

12. Brief In the end, the circuit court found that the rights of homosexual students to be free from harsh and condemning words such as those appearing on Harper’s T-shirt, were more important than allowing Harper to voice his opinion in the way that he had chosen. The appeals court said schools could ban speech judged demeaning to other students who had to be insulated from “psychological attacks that cause young people to question their self-worth and their rightful place in society.”

13. Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier A First Amendment Case © Constitutional Rights Foundation, Los Angeles, 2002 All rights reserved.

14. This case began at Hazelwood East High School and ended up in the U. S. Supreme Court. Here are the basic facts of the case... The school newspaper was written and edited by the Journalism II class at Hazelwood East High School.

15. Three students in the class worked on a special feature section for the upcoming edition. Instead of just covering dances and school sports, they wanted to do stories about real problems students at their school dealt with. They handed in articles on different topics, including teen pregnancy and students with divorced parents. They interviewed and wrote about students’ experiences. They did not use the students’ real names. New interesting relevant same old - same old

16. When the school newspaper was ready to go to press, the journalism teacher reviewed it and, as always, gave it to the principal for final review. The principal directed the newspaper advisor to delete the two pages containing all the feature stories about teen problems. The principal did not think it was appropriate to run detailed stories about pregnant students. The stories would be read by the whole community, including younger brothers and sisters of students.

17. He was also worried that even though the names had been changed, people would be able to identify the students interviewed. He thought that the divorce story was one-sided and did not demonstrate responsible journalism. Though the principal only objected to the teen pregnancy and divorce stories, he did not think there was time to reformat the paper, so the whole feature section was cut.

18. The case first went to the federal district court where the court ruled in favor of Hazelwood (the students lost). The attorneys for the students appealed, and the case went to the U.S. Court of Appeals, where the students won. The three students believed that their constitutional rights under the 1st Amendment had been violated. They took the school district to court. Winner Kuhlmeier, Smart, Tippett - Students Hazelwood - School District Kuhlmeier, Smart, Tippett - Students

19. Both sides presented oral arguments and briefs to the appeals courts. The newspaper was part of the school curriculum, and the principal and school board are allowed and expected to control curriculum. It is up to the teacher, principal, and school board to decide whether students’ articles run in the newspaper. Articles can be censored for reasonable academic concerns. Attorneys for the Hazelwood District presented this argument: The principal acted reasonably.

20. According to school policy, student publications will not restrict free expression…within the rules of responsible journalism and only speech that interferes with the educational environment or invades the rights of others can be prohibited. The students had a constitutional right to express themselves in the paper. Attorneys for Kuhlmeier (the students) presented this argument: The principal’s censorship was unreasonable.

21. The Supreme Court had to decide these questions: Hazelwood school district appealed the case and it went to the U. S. Supreme Court. Can school authorities control the free expression of ideas in the school newspaper? Was the principal’s censorship reasonable?

22. As the attorneys argued the case, an important question came up... Is Hazelwood East High School’s newspaper a “Public Forum”? Public Forum: Streets, parks, or any public facilities which have traditionally been used for the exercise of democracy, including purposes of assembly, communicating thoughts, and discussing public questions. The 1st Amendment protects free speech in public forums. This issue became important in the Supreme Court’s decision. The Decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988)

23. The court found in favor of Hazelwood. Writing the opinion of the court, Justice Byron White said: Forums for public expression are places like streets and parks…used by citizens for purposes of assembly and discussing public questions. School facilities only become public forums if the school authorities have opened those facilities for indiscriminate use by the public. Hazelwood never opened up the student newspaper for such indiscriminate use. The production of the newspaper was part of a regular class, not a public forum.

24. The decision also says that... First Amendment rights of students in schools are not exactly like the rights of adults in other settings. A school need not tolerate student speech that is inconsistent with its basic educational mission, even though the government could not censor similar speech outside the school. Educators do not offend the 1st Amendment by editing or controlling the style and content of student speech in school- sponsored activities (newspapers, plays), so long as their actions are related to educational concerns.