Student Speech on the Docket

By Shawn Healy

Time Magazine published an excellent piece on the emerging issues surrounding students' rights to free speech and expression in our nation's public schools. The backdrop is the Bong Hits 4 Jesus case before the Supreme Court, with a ruling expected by the end of next month. The article also addresses student dress codes in light of gang problems, online criticism of school administrators, and the legal expenses that school districts are incurring to defend themselves against more numerous challenges from students, their parents, and legal organizations that cater to this cause.

My personal connection to this cause continues as I sit in an Indianapolis hotel room on the eve of a public policy forum sponsored by J-Ideas of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. A group of 20 or so First Amendment advocates from across the country have gathered on the site of Ball State's new downtown Indianapolis extension to carry on the work begun at our Free Speech in Schools conference last October in Chicago, and revisited this winter in St. Petersburg, Florida, at the Poynter Institute. The goal here is to discuss recent developments in this policy area, including the failed student press bill in Washington state and emerging efforts in the same spirit elsewhere (Oregon, Michigan, North Carolina...). We also hope to craft a model school policy that reflects the realities of school management specific to pedagogical and disciplinary requirements, but also places the First Amendment on a pedestal.

I'll share the fruits of our deliberations in a post later this week. The assembled group is long on talent, energy, and experience, so I am bullish about the good that can come through "strength in numbers" as it pertains to student speech advocacy.