Experts say The Kodak situation falls into a legal gray zone.
Student publications are protected by the First Amendment, as backed by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1969 known as the Tinker standard.
But ever since a subsequent ruling in 1988, dubbed Hazelwood, schools have enjoyed far greater latitude.
An exception to that standard is if a student publication acts as a student forum, a legal distinction that gives students greater freedom from school control.
An Everett district policy makes clear that student newspapers are not considered student forums. Passed in 1998, the policy identifies student publications as part of a school’s curriculum and sets limits on students.
“While the District believes that students should be encouraged to exercise good judgment in the content of the student publication program, such expressive writing must be in keeping with the school’s instructional mission and values,” a procedure section reads.
Some states have passed laws to extend protection of student expression.
Washington’s Administrative Code includes a section on student rights, including freedom of speech and press. It says that “no school district shall limit these rights except for good and sufficient cause” — what lawyers have called good and sufficiently vague language.
Kodak students might have an argument that they’ve been operating as a student forum in practice, even if the district policy points to something different, lawyers say.
But there is not much legal history on that argument to say whether it would hold up in court, said David Hudson, a research attorney with the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Unless administrators budge on the district policy, University of Washington communications professor emeritus Don Pember doesn’t hold much hope for students’ chances.
“The sad thing is it’s in public high schools that we teach students values,” Pember said. “And if we teach them censorship is a value and a good thing, they’re going to take that with them for life.”
The concept has now even reached colleges, he said. In an Illinois case, a college dean who insisted she see a student publication before it is printed won on appeal, an upset. Those students are now petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.
“This is an uphill battle for the kids,” Pember said.
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