You Don’t Leave Your (First Amendment) Rights at the School House Door
or “Gate” as Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas said.
You don’t leave your First Amendment Rights at the school house door. You don’t leave your rights at the door of a college or university either.
You take your First Amendment Rights with you, and you may call on local, state or federal government officials to protect you as you profess those rights through the freedom of speech, which can take many forms, but you shouldn’t have to go to court to preserve your rights.
One of the most important Supreme Court decisions that dealt with freedom of speech was Tinker vs. Des Moines, 1969. Mary Tinker, a 13-year old, argued that wearing a black armband to protest the war in Vietnam was her right, an expression of free speech. The court ruled in her favor. Wearing the arm band did not cause “substantial disruption” to her school, and the rights of students to express political opinions were upheld.
Recently, in Florida, an l8-year old in high school, with a painted wooden elephant in his truck in his school parking place, (which they could decorate as they wished) was told he had to remove the elephant because someone or some people didn’t like an elephant, Republicanly-painted with Trump on the side.
At the University of Kansas recently, a woman in a sorority was being “disciplined” for questioning on social media and in speech where the money for black lives matter was going. Someone she lived with was offended and made a complaint. The student was not breaking any rules for her sorority or for her university in expressing her opinion.
But these kinds of incidents are not new: At Orange Coast College in California, immediately after the 2016 election, an instructor called out students in the class who had been wearing Trump t shirts. She demeaned students who expressed their support for President Trump and used her classroom for her own forum, attempting to silence dissent, by her position and authority. I mean she did give out the grades after all.
Today, universities (most of whom receive federal funds, even for construction of buildings on campus or student aid) could be violating students’ first amendment rights. Surely, the universities are aware of
Tinker vs. Des Moines, and that federal funds could be withheld for violating student rights.
Nothing good can come of those in authority who are unaware that students have rights to express their own point of view. Do schools and universities really want to go to court every time a student exercises a first amendment right? Universities pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for officials, who seem to be glued to positions that outlaw some sort of speech they don’t like. Perhaps those officials are not aware of Tinker vs. Des Moines. Could someone please let them know?
