A CASE FOR FREE SPEECH

The Supreme Court's decision could have far-reaching effects on
student speech.

As the Olympic Torch was being paraded through his town in 2002,
Joseph Frederick, a high school student in Juneau, Alaska, unfurled a
14-foot long banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" in front of
television crews filming the event. But instead of just getting his 15
minutes of fame, Frederick was suspended by the school principal for
10 days for refusing to take the banner down. According to the school,
Frederick's sign promoted drug use, something contrary to the school's
mission and thus, something they could punish with a suspension.

That banner was many things: immature, silly, nonsensical and probably
pretty funny to the "Harold and Kumar" set. One thing it was not,
however, was a legal crowbar to open the door to censorship of speech
in schools, and Frederick has lined up a surprising mix of supporters
that agree with him. Along with more typical advocates of free speech
like the American Civil Liberties Union, a number of Christian groups
have sided with Frederick, such as the Christian Legal Society and the
Rev. Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice, in support
of the student's right to religious expression.

We think that the Supreme Court should abide by the logic that the
Court itself prescribed in the 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines School
District case involving students wearing black armbands in symbolic
protest of the Vietnam War. "It can hardly be argued," Justice Abe
Fortas wrote, "that either students or teachers shed their
constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the
schoolhouse gate."

While Frederick's speech might not be as noble and principled as that
of those protesting a war, it's easy to see how limiting the rather
innocuous "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" could open the door to limiting any
speech the school believes is contrary to their mission, regardless of
its nature. Such a move would be, ahem, one toke over the line. We
believe that the free exchange of ideas, so vital to the intellectual
formation of students, would be best served by protecting Frederick's
speech in the highest court in the land.