NCJ Number
163092
Journal
St. John's Law Review Volume: 69 Issue: 3-4 Dated: (Summer-Fall 1995) Pages: 365-377
Date Published
1995
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Subsequent judicial decisions have made major changes to the 1969 U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, which established the rule that public school authorities may not suppress student speech unless they can demonstrate that the suppression was necessary to avoid material and substantial interference with schoolwork or discipline.
Abstract
The basic premise of Tinker is that students retain their freedom of expression in the public school setting as long as their use of that freedom does not unduly hinder the school's achievement of its educational mission. The Tinker decision was rights-based and used a mixed fact-law rule. The first major case to redefine Tinker was the 1982 decision in Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District v. Pico, which related to the standard for removing books from a school library. Four years later the Supreme Court decided Bethel School District v. Fraser, which related to a nominating speech for a student office. Two years later, the Court decided Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, which focused on whether the principal could constitutionally exercise control over the content of a school newspaper produced at public expense as part of a journalism class. The Court decided that the school, not the students, had control of the newspaper and distinguished between the personal speech of the student and the speech attributed to the school. The Hazelwood decision clarifies the distinction between personal and government expression. Footnotes