Teachers, Students

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Teachers, Students theFirst Amendment
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The First Amendment (1791)
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Three Rs of the First Amendment

• Rights Individual (Each of us is born with
  certain inalienable rights)
• Responsibilities Mutual (Each of us must accept
  the responsibility to guard the rights of others
  especially those with whom we most deeply
  disagree)
• Respect Universal (Each of us must commit to
  debate out differences with respect).

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How Important is Free Press?

• If it were left to me to decide whether we
  should have a government without a free press or
  a free press without government, I would choose
  the latter. T. Jefferson

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Do students in public schools have First
Amendment rights?

• Yes
• No
• It depends

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YesBut Not Until Recently

• 1791 Congress shall make no law
• 1908 Students suspended for poem critical of
  their teacher Such power is essential to the
  preservation of order, decency, decorum, and good
  government in the public schools.
• 1925 Gitlow vs. New York First Amendment
  applies to states via the Fourteenth Amendment

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The Fourteenth Amendment (1868)

• Section 1 No State shall make or enforce any
  law which shall abridge the privledges and
  immunities or citizens of the United States nor
  shall any state deprive any person of life,
  liberty, or property, without due process of law
  nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction
  the equal protection of the laws.

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The Tinker Standard

• Tinker vs. Des Moines School District (1969)
• Black armbands in 1965
• 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.

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The Fraser Standard

• Bethel School District vs. Fraser (1986)
• Inappropriate speech for class president
• 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.

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The Hazelwood Standard

• Hazelwood School District vs. Kuhlmeier (1988)
• Censor stories in student newspaper about teen
  pregnancy and divorce
• Censorship of school-sponsored student expression
  is permissible when school officials can show
  that it is reasonably related to legitimate
  pedagogical concerns.

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The Frederick Standard?Morse vs. Frederick (June
25, 2007)

• January 2002, Olympic torch travels through town
• Principal Morse cancels school
• Senior Frederick unveils banner on the sidewalk
  across street which reads Bong Hits 4 Jesus
• Suspended for 10 days

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How Would You Decide This Case?

• What is your reasoning for Frederick?
• What is your reasoning for Morse?
• Which previous cases do you use for your
  argument?

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Your Rights Outside of School

• There is no legal justification for censoring a
  students expression in the privacy of his home.
• For instance, a federal district court in Maine
  ruled in Smith v. Klein (1986) that school
  officials violated the constitutional rights of a
  student when they suspended him for gesturing at
  a teacher with his middle finger raised at an
  off-campus restaurant. The judge determined that
  the students disrespectful act was too
  attenuated with school functions to be
  punishable by school officials.
• Similarly, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
  rejected school officials attempts to shut down
  an underground student newspaper sold off campus
  in Thomas v. Bd. of Ed., Granville Cent. Sch.
  District (1979), writing our willingness to
  defer to the schoolmasters expertise in
  administering school discipline, rests, in large
  measure, upon the supposition that the arm of
  authority does not reach beyond the schoolhouse
  gate.
• Likewise, a federal district court in Washington
  ruled in Emmett v. Kent School District No. 415
  (2000) that student Internet speech created off
  campus is entirely outside of the schools
  supervision or control.

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Three Types of Student Web Sites

• Sites that are offensive, obnoxious and insulting
• Sites that are offensive, obnoxious and
  insulting, and also contain some sort of veiled
  threat of violence or of destruction of property
• Sites that contain outright blatant threat (Post
  Columbine)
• Facebook issues at Eden Prairie and and Woodbury
  High Schools. What are your opinions?

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Libel and Slander

• Libel and slander are legal terms for false
  statements of fact about a person that are
  printed, broadcast, spoken or otherwise
  communicated to others. Libel generally refers
  to visual or written statements, while slander
  refers to verbal statements. The term defamation
  covers both libel and slander. For a statement
  to be defamatory, it must be more than insulting
  or offensive. It must actually harm the
  reputation of another person.
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)
• 1960 New York Times ran a full page add about
  Martin Luther King and an Alabama tax evasion
  charge
• Libel about the Alabama police force
• Commissioner Sullivan requested a retraction and
  eventually sued, winning 500,000

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Elements of Libel

• A defamatory statement
• Published to at least one other person (other
  than plantiff)
• Of and concerning the plaintiff (identify
  specifically with plaintiff)
• That is a false statement of fact (opinions are
  not libel)
• And made with fault. The level of fault depends
  on status of plaintiff
• Public Figures celebrities, government, etc. are
  required to prove actual malice, meaning the
  defendant know statements were false
• Private Individuals must only show that the
  defendant was negligent, (failing to act with due
  care).
• Libel cases are civil law and may be heard by
  juries. Monetary damages can be received as
  compensation for suffering.

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Ethics

• Should we believe everything we see on the news?
• How can the news be tainted or falsified?
• Wag the Dog and course conclusion