Center for Scholastic Journalism Blog

In an editorial published yesterday, The Lexington Herald-Leader offered its support for House Bill 43, joining a growing chorus of working journalists who say protecting student press freedom is the right thing to do.

The bill, introduced earlier this year by state Rep. Brent Yonts (D-Greenville), would protect the right of high school journalists to determine the content of their student media and would protect school officials from liability for content decisions students make.  The bill is similar to laws in place in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts and Oregon.

In addition to the Herald-Leader, and its columnist Tom Eblen who wrote in support of the bill on Feb. 20,  the Bowling Green Daily News, the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, the News-Enterprise in Elizabethtown and the Greater Cincinnati Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists have endorsed the legislation. Louisville Courier-Journal columnist David Hawpe wrote in support of the bill as well and the Kentucky Open Government Blog reports that the Kentucky Press Association and the Bluegrass Chapter of SPJ have also encouraged passage.

Much credit for both the bill and the support it is receiving goes to Western Kentucky University student Josh Moore, who asked Yonts to sponsor the bill and who has been coordinating information about the effort through a Web site he maintains.  We support his efforts, commend all those who are working to enact this bill into law and offer our hope that Kentucky will soon become the eighth state to recognize that protecting student free expression is sound educational policy.

Forty years ago today, the courage of three teenagers from Des Moines, Iowa, made history.

John and Mary Beth Tinker, 15 and 13 respectively, and their 16-year-old friend Chris Eckhardt wore black armbands to school way back in December 1965 to voice their concerns about United States involvement in the war in Vietnam.  They were suspended from school as a result, and soon began what many believe is the most important student free expression case in our nation’s history.

On Feb. 24, 1969, the Supreme Court decided their claim and uttered words that still resonate to this day.

“It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,” Justice Abe Fortas wrote for the Court majority.

For almost two decades, the Tinker decision set the standard for when school officials would be allowed to censor.  Only when administrators could reasonably forecast a material and substantial disruption of school activities or an invasion of the rights of others, would silencing student expression be allowed.  Student journalists were among the first beneficiaries of this protection.  Countless acts of arbitrary censorship (aimed primarily at protecting the school’s image, no matter how accurate or journalistically sound the stories might be) at schools around the country were prevented as a result.

Beginning in 1985, the Supreme Court began to whittle away at the strong protections of the Tinker ruling.  But the Court has never done away with them, and as recent as 2007 reaffirmed the fundamental role Tinker plays in determining student First Amendment protection.

Scholastic journalists and journalism educators around the country are today, in celebration of Scholastic Journalism Week, remembering the actions of those Iowa teenagers.  Many are wearing black armbands to voice their support for what the Tinker decision stands for. Several thousand more will do so at the spring Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association Convention in Phoenix in April.  I’m even wearing an armband today, which prompts only the occasional curious glance on this college campus accustomed to protest and activism.

But what we need today is more than the symbolism of Tinker-style armbands.  The future depends on all of us who care about the future of the First Amendment and the vital role student free expression plays in our nation’s strength getting off our behinds and doing something.  On this day, dozens (perhaps hundreds) of high school journalists and media advisers are being censored or threatened with punishment for expressing views or covering the topics that school officials don’t like.  (Read the News Flashes on the Student Press Law Center Web site for a sampling.) Call a school superintendent or a school board member and tell them the censorship must stop.  Urge your friends and family to make that same call.  Run for school board and work to change the mentality that censorship should be an accepted part of every American student’s high school experience.  Or call your state legislators and urge them to support student free expression.  Three states — Connecticut, Kentucky and Washington — have bills pending before them today that could help diminish the rampant censorship.  If you live in one of those states, ask your legislator to support it.  And if they refuse, work to see that legislator is not reelected.

If 13-year-old Mary Beth Tinker could help change the world at great risk to her future, the least we can do is stand up for what we believe.  What better way to applaud the courage of three Iowa teenagers 40 years ago than to show a bit of courage ourselves.

Kudos to the Des Moines Register for running a guest column today from Student Press Law Center Executive Director Frank LoMonte. His “Schools abridging free-speech rights” reminds us, on this 40th anniversary of the Tinker decision, that plenty of students ARE forced to “shed their constitutional rights of freedom of speech and expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

The Supreme Court told Mary Beth and John Tinker and Chris Eckhardt 40 years ago today they DID have the right to wear black armbands and protest the war in Vietnam. But today, when student media can’t cover the lack of a school library or the need for teaching more grammar, it’s time to rededicate ourselves to the cause. Continue to wear those black armbands in spirit after today.

Mary Beth Tinker recently told a North Central High School (IN) journalist, “In 1965, when I was 13, I had no idea that our small action would one day inspire students to speak up for their rights, or that it would lead to an important decision by the Supreme Court. I have since learned, and this is what I tell young people, that this is how history is usually made, by the seemingly small actions of ordinary people.”

What can we do to ensure students, in and out of schools, continue to take small actions through their expression to keep the Tinker spirit alive for the next 40 years?

Question of the day: Why should students wear black armbands this spring?

Answer: To celebrate.

Not to protest the war.

Not to protest cold winter temperatures nor how the economy is affecting their college plans.

But they wear them to honor a 40-year-old U. S. Supreme Court decision.

Tinker v. Des Moines, originally about the right to wear black armbands to protest an unpopular war, laid the framework for successes in scholastic journalism since then.

Tinker’s spirit contributed as:

• A New Jersey student was allowed to publish his inoffensive movie review the R-rated “Mississippi Burning” after his principal had refused to let him

• Katy Dean successfully fought against censorship in Michigan so she could print an article about the possibility of fumes from a bus garage contributing to cancer among neighbors

• Citizens throughout the nation became more aware of the importance of student freedom of expression because of censorship

• That awareness contributed to the founding of an organization to help students, advisers and school officials better understand the importance of free student expression, the Student Press Law Center

• Then the SPLC and others developed policies that recognize the importance of students learning by using their critical thinking and decision-making skills.

By honoring Tinker and encouraging students to wear black armbands this spring, we reinforce the heritage and civic responsibility our forefathers began by taking a giant chance that we, as a country, could govern ourselves through citizen involvement and decision-making.

Mark Goodman, Knight Chair for Scholastic Journalism at Kent State University, called Tinker the most important Supreme Court precedent supporting the future of the First Amendment.

“The Tinker decision reflects the fundamental belief that young people are a vital part of our national debate and are no less deserving of basic civil rights than any adult,” Goodman said. “In more recent years, some have forgotten that, including some on the Supreme Court.  But our future as a nation depends on it.”

And that is why principals and teachers, parents and citizens should allow and encourage students to wear black armbands Feb. 24. 

To learn more about how to make your own armbands, go to: http://scholasticjournalismweek.weebly.com/