'BONG HITS' RULING FURTHER STRIPS STUDENTS' RIGHTS

As the executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, or
SSDP, at the University of Michigan, I was sad to see such a decision
made by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 25. Joseph Frederick clearly
should not have been suspended for displaying his "Bong Hits 4 Jesus"
banner.

Fortunately, the new ruling "provides no support for any restriction
of speech that can plausibly be interpreted as commenting on any
political or social issue, including speech on issues such as 'the
wisdom of the war on drugs or of legalizing marijuana for medicinal
use,'" which was concurred by Justice Alito.

Sadly, I believe a lot of teachers and school administrators now will
cross the line much more without understanding their
restriction.

Nowadays, freedom of speech isn't the only human right not protected
for high school students. The First Amendment may be whittling away
right now, but students have already lost their protection from
unwarranted search and seizure as well as other rights of the accused.

Restricting the free speech of students causes more disruption to
their education than the speech itself.

As Justice Stevens recognized in his dissent, "Even in high school, a
rule that permits only one point of view to be expressed is less
likely to produce correct answers than the open discussion of
countervailing views."

CHRIS CHILES

U-M Director of SSDP