By David W. Bulla
dbulla@iastate.edu
The law of the student press is a relatively recent development in U.S. history. Two U.S. Supreme Court cases have directly considered the scholastic press: Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) and Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988). The two offered antithetical interpretations of the rights of student journalists.
In the absence of a specific showing of constitutionally valid reasons to regulate their speech, students are entitled to freedom of expression of their views.
- Justice Abe Fortas (Majority Opinion)
In the former, Mary Beth Tinker, a junior high student, and two high school students, including her brother, John Tinker, were part of families who disagreed with the military effort in Vietnam. They decided in 1965 that they would protest the war by wearing black armbands and fasting. School officials got wind of their protest and adopted a policy prohibiting the wearing of armbands to school. The three students wore them anyway and were suspended.
The trio and their families sued the Des Moines school district, claiming their free expression rights were violated under First Amendment protections. The lower courts upheld the school district’s decision, but on appeal the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of the students. Justice Abe Fortas made the major proclamation of the case—that the constitutional rights of students and teachers do not end at “the schoolhouse gate.”
The court ruling set up what is called the Tinker standard. It says that expression in state-operated schools is protected as long as it does not (1) materially disrupt class work, (2) involve a substantial disruption of order or (3) invade the rights of others. The burden was on the school administration to show that one of these three would occur.
This was a significant victory for student free expression. High school journalists were seen to have the same constitutional rights as citizens outside the schoolhouse gate.
David Bulla is an assistant professor at the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa
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