Pubdate: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 Source: Republican, The (Springfield, MA) Copyright: 2007 The Republican Contact: http://www.masslive.com/republican/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3075 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Bong+Hits+4+Jesus (Bong Hits 4 Jesus) BANNER CASE IN ALASKA FOR STUDENT FREE SPEECH Whenever the nation's highest court hears a case that could ultimately restrict free speech, the nation should hold its breath. Here's the case heard this week by the Supreme Court: In 2002, Joseph Frederick and his fellow students at Juneau-Douglas High School in Alaska were allowed to leave school grounds to watch the Olympic torch as it was paraded through the city. Frederick and some friends unfurled a 14-foot banner on a public sidewalk across the street from the school. The message on the banner read, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." The principal took the banner from Frederick, and suspended him for 10 days. This is a story about a principal who overreacted and a high school senior who pulled a sophomoric stunt to get on TV. The case would not have reached the U.S. Supreme Court if the principal had quietly shared some history with Frederick by reciting for him a quote by Hubert H. Humphrey, "The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously." That said, the Supreme Court should affirm a ruling by an appeals court that the school violated Frederick's First Amendment rights when it suspended him. In its historic 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines rulings, the nation's highest court overturned the suspensions of students who had worn black armbands to protest the Vietnam War, proclaiming that students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." Frederick was not in a classroom when he unfurled his banner; he was not even on school property. The principal had absolutely no right to restrict his free-speech rights when he was off-campus. It is a stretch to say the students were on a class trip. In subsequent rulings, the court has made narrow exceptions that rightly suppress the free-speech rights of students if they disrupt the classroom. A ruling against Frederick and his "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner would undermine the rights of others who might want to express opinions that school officials find detrimental to their educational mission. The court should make this a banner year for free speech by ruling in favor of the student. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake