The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Safford Unified School District v. Redding is a sign that the High Court's drug war fever may finally be breaking. Savana Redding, a thirteen-year-old honor student, was strip-searched at school after a classmate falsely accused her of possessing prescription-strength ibuprofen (one pill is equivalent to two Advil). The school's zero tolerance policy prevents students from bringing any medication (prescription or over-the-counter) to school without administrative approval. [continues 647 words]
WASHINGTON--The U.S. Supreme Court rapped school officials for strip-searching a 13-year-old girl in a fruitless hunt for ibuprofen, ruling that an overzealous investigation based on scant evidence violated the Fourth Amendment ban on "unreasonable searches and seizures." The 8-1 vote provided a victory for student rights. In 2007, the justices went in the opposite direction, ruling that a school campaign to discourage drug abuse outweighed a teenager's First Amendment right to mock such efforts. [continues 862 words]
The perception of rampant teenage OxyContin abuse in Juneau is fomenting support for mandatory random drug testing of high school students in sports and activities. A group calling itself Taking Action has formed and is pushing for drug testing in schools. Earlier this week, Juneau-Douglas High School football coach Bill Chalmers told the School Board that he was considering quitting coaching if the district doesn't implement a drug testing program by the fall. Jeff Duvernay, a member of Taking Action and president of the local Little League, said a drug testing program would be a tool to help curb the rampant use of OxyContin among teenagers in Juneau. OxyContin is the name brand of an extended-release form of oxycodone, an opiate medication prescribed for pain. [continues 950 words]
Court Case Tests Limits of Anti-Drug Programs SAFFORD, Ariz. -- Eighth-grader Savana Redding was scared and confused when an assistant principal searching for drugs ordered her out of math class, searched her backpack and then instructed an administrative aide and school nurse to conduct a strip search. "I went into the nurse's office and kept following what they asked me to do," Savana, now 19, recalls of the incident six years ago that she says still leaves her shaken and humiliated. "I thought, 'What could I be in trouble for?'" [continues 1945 words]
A group of 20 students held protests signs to passing traffic at the intersection of Whidbey Avenue and Oak Harbor Street, under the bruise-colored clouds of Thursday afternoon. Their signs were scrawled with "Free Speech" and the sign on the building behind them read "Oak Harbor School District Office." "This office is the dead-center of the district. What better way to send a message," student Dustin Gehring said. Students assembled at this intersection for three days, and argued their free speech rights had been violated by Oak Harbor High School staff. [continues 726 words]
Whoever thought that a simple banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" could spark a six-and-a-half-year outcry? Thursday marked the day that a former senior high school student was finally freed from the court system's long and arduous grasp. Yes people, I am talking about Joseph Frederick. Since we were all much younger people when little Joseph's crime initially took place, allow me to explain his story. In 2002, high school senior Joseph Frederick was suspended from an Olympic torch relay at his high school in Juneau, Alaska, for displaying a sign reading "Bong Hits for Jesus." The school's accusation? The sign promoted illegal drug use. He faced suspension from school due to his antics. [continues 421 words]
Agreement Includes A $45,000 Payment To Former Student Officials say the final chapter of the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" saga has been written with a settlement being reached between the Juneau Board of Education and former Juneau-Douglas High School student Joseph Frederick. After nearly seven years of litigation that landed the case in the nation's highest court, the Juneau School Board reached a settlement agreement Monday night that includes a $45,000 payment to Frederick. Former JDHS Principal Deb Morse suspended Frederick in 2002 during the Olympic Torch Relay for holding up a banner across from the high school that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." [continues 421 words]
$45,000: Juneau School District Will Pay Student It Suspended. JUNEAU -- The seven-year Bong Hits 4 Jesus saga appears to be over. In a free speech case that reached the nation's highest court, the Juneau-Douglas School District and former student Joseph Frederick have reached a settlement. Frederick was suspended during a 2002 Olympic torch relay for holding up a banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" while standing across from the high school. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the school's position that Frederick celebrated the illegal use of drugs. The district will pay Frederick $45,000. In exchange Frederick will drop remaining claims not heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. [continues 295 words]
School administrators can gain from a recent court decision some much-needed guidance on how to react to student voices they dislike. The good news for students - and for all Americans - is that this newest legal lesson supports more speech instead of placing more limits on student expression. A landmark 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision - Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District, involving students and Vietnam War protest armbands - put forth the idea that young citizens don't automatically surrender their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse door. But since then, courts at various levels have set about defining when and how officials legally could shut down student expression. A number of those legal limits have been driven by security, education or drug-related concerns. [continues 477 words]
School administrators can gain from a recent court decision some much-needed guidance on how to react to student voices they dislike. The good news for students -- and for all Americans -- is that this newest legal lesson supports more speech instead of more limits on student expression. A landmark 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision -- Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, involving students and Vietnam War protest armbands -- put forth the idea that young citizens don't automatically surrender their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse door. [continues 392 words]
School administrators can gain from a recent court decision some much-needed guidance on how to react to student voices they dislike. The good news for students -- and for all Americans -- is that this newest legal lesson supports more speech instead of placing more limits on student expression. A landmark 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision -- Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, involving students and Vietnam War protest armbands -- put forth the idea that young citizens don't automatically surrender their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse door. [continues 512 words]
Mertz Says Supreme Court Ruling Did Not Address All the Issues Involved in the Case The "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case is headed back to court. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the case in September, local attorney Doug Mertz said Wednesday. Mertz represents Joseph Frederick, the former Juneau-Douglas High School student who displayed the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner that sparked a free speech debate that has been going on for six years and has been heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. [continues 264 words]
What's been heralded as a "showdown" -- the appearance of baseball pitcher Roger Clemens before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform tomorrow-- is more likely to be a show. The purpose is to scour for more information regarding the " Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball." In the lingo of dugouts and bullpens, they want to get the dope on doping. [continues 659 words]
The Scout's newsroom usually buzzed with a bunch of us neophyte journalists publishing a biweekly paper for our suburban high school. But on one cold day in January 1988, we had something else on our minds besides college acceptance letters and prospective prom dates. That day, the Supreme Court ruled that high school students did not share the same First Amendment rights of free expression as adults. Our adviser's wide blue eyes flashed with anger as she tried to explain what had happened in the Hazelwood School District outside St. Louis. The district was not unlike ours: suburban, middle class, full of young people who had been brought up to believe the government's protections extended to them. [continues 571 words]
The Juneau School District's decision to go after former student Joseph Frederick to pay its court fees demonstrates how the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" saga has degenerated. The district appears to be acting out of spite, especially if one considers that $5,000 is just a drop in the bucket compared to its overall operating budget. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that the school district did indeed have the right to suspend Frederick from school after he unfurled a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" at a 2002 Olympic torch rally, a school-sponsored event. [continues 321 words]
A lawyer representing the former local high school student whose "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner unfurled a lengthy free speech debate is accusing the attorney for the Juneau School Board of harassing his client over a $5,000 legal bill. Douglas Mertz said the board's lawyer is trying to force his client, Joseph Frederick, to leave his job in China to face a February deposition in Juneau regarding his personal finances. "The only motive here is revenge, retaliation and harassment," said Mertz, who filed a motion Tuesday with the U.S. District Court to prevent Frederick from being forced to appear in court in person. [continues 751 words]
Attorney Mertz Says He Expects to File Appeal to Ninth Circuit Court The Juneau School Board held a closed-door executive session Tuesday to discuss a recent settlement offer in the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case. The offer came from Juneau attorney Doug Mertz, who served as lead counsel in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case for nearly six years. The proposed settlement amount was not disclosed. If the Juneau School District passes on the settlement offer, Mertz said the free speech case would return to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on state, rather than federal, constitutional issues. [continues 161 words]
Virtual Banners Test Players' Knowledge of Free Speech Rights Google "Bong Hits 4 Jesus," and links to 923,000 pages discussing the landmark Supreme Court case pop up. At the bottom of the second page is a game that promises to educate high school students about their rights to free speech. "Bong Hits 4 Jesus The Game" is inspired by the speech debate that erupted around Frederick's suit against Deborah Morse, Juneau-Douglas High School principal at the time, and the Juneau School District on his claims they violated his civil rights. [continues 635 words]
Offensive or just free speech? For decades, high school students have challenged the boundaries of free speech in school, often by wearing material that adults find inappropriate. Here, a student reporter investigates whether anyone's rights were really violated by the banning of controversial T-shirts. Last Friday morning as students entered school, a group of seniors were pulled aside, all with one thing noticeably in common: their shirts. These bright green T-shirts, with the words ".08" on the front and "Legally gone" on the back, have been the topic of conversation amongst the senior class in the past week. [continues 571 words]
To the Editor: Regarding Alex Kreit's Commentary "'Bong Hits' for Student Speech" (Aug. 29, 2007): The U.S. Supreme Court should take a cue from the nonsensical banner "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" that inspired its decision to limit student free speech. It might do the justices some good to take a few bong hits for Jesus. Before sacrificing any more civil liberties at the altar of the drug war, they should ask themselves: What would Jesus do? Would Jesus persecute, incarcerate, and deny forgiveness to nonviolent drug offenders? Zero tolerance is decidedly un-Christian. [continues 166 words]
(1) MINISTER RULES OUT PRESCRIBING HEROIN TO HELP DRUG ADDICTS Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2007 Source: Scotsman (UK) Copyright: 2007 The Scotsman Publications Ltd Author: Peter MacMahon, Scottish Government Editor FERGUS Ewing last night firmly rejected growing demands for drug addicts to be prescribed heroin. The minister for community safety said the Scottish National Party government would instead concentrate on getting people off drugs. Mr Ewing's intervention came as the Scottish Parliament heard details of how prescribing heroin works in the Netherlands and one Nationalist MSP publicly advocated the idea. [continues 5935 words]
Frederick's Attorney Says Client Has Right to Sue for Damages Despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year on Joseph Frederick's free-speech case, the legal debate is not over. The case of the former Juneau-Douglas High School student was returned to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is an automatic part of the legal process. "There is still a dispute," said Frederick's attorney, Doug Mertz. The 9th Circuit Court will either dismiss the case outright or send it to the U.S. District Court in Alaska for Frederick to argue for his banner, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus," under state free speech laws and civil liability issues. [continues 650 words]
The high court gives schools a Pyrrhic victory--and little practical guidance. Two months have passed since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Morse v. Frederick (also known as the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case), the first major case involving students' free-speech rights since 1988. ("Ruling in 'Bong Hits' Case Seen as Leaving Protection For Students' Free Speech," July 18, 2007.) And while commentators may continue to debate the merits of the court's ruling, almost all agree that it provides little in the way of practical guidance for the next teacher or administrator who has to make an on-the-spot disciplinary decision about drug-or alcohol-related student speech. In fact, if anything, the decision appears to make the boundaries between protected speech and punishable speech even less clear than before. [continues 926 words]
Pay $1,200 for a Water Pipe? Are You High? The glass glows dull red, like a campfire ember, above the gas torch. The young artist, sitting on a stool in front of a wooden bench with a metal top, works with confident, quick motions, creating a tube by fusing white glass sticks together around a one-inch-thick cylinder of graphite. James Lynch, 27, has an average build, short, light-brown hair and a goatee. He's wearing Birkenstocks, a black T-shirt, shorts, and sporty-looking didymium shades that mute the searing orange and blue light of the torch. He soon moves on to a spherical glass shape, holding it over the flame by pencil-thin rods of glass, his fingers inches away from potential third-degree burns. Gloves wouldn't allow him the kind of control he needs. [continues 5179 words]
A divided U.S. Supreme Court, in Morse v. Frederick, a case involving a cryptic student banner (and labeled as "oddball" by The New York Times), last month whittled away at 38 years of legal precedent and further restricted the First Amendment rights of our students. The 5-4 decision, marked by angry rhetoric on both sides, represented another aberration from 1969 when the high court boldly proclaimed in Tinker v. Des Moines that there should be no age restrictions when it comes to free speech and that student First Amendment rights don't stop at the schoolhouse gate. [continues 485 words]
EDMOND -- There's a Ferris Bueller in every generation. He's the student who gains great pleasure in aggravating the school principal with juvenile antics and distractions. His sole goal in life seems to be to get attention in a new and creative way, each stunt better than the last. In 2002, Joseph Frederick was an 18-year-old senior in Juneau, Alaska, when everyone in his school went outside to watch the Winter Olympics torch relay pass through town. Knowing there would be media coverage, he and his friends unveiled a 14-foot paper sign that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" along the sidewalk, hoping to get on television. The enraged principal confiscated the sign and suspended Frederick for 10 days. On appeal, the superintendent reduced the sentence to eight days served. [continues 644 words]
Washington -- The U.S. Supreme Court's first major ruling in two decades on student speech was a decisive victory for schools and administrators in the case over a student's display of a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner. But the nuances in the justices' opinions leave significant protection for more serious political and social expression by students. How the court's June 25 ruling plays out for the latest generation of student-speech disputes, including those stemming from the culture wars over religious expression and gay rights, may take years to figure out, legal experts say. It was only days, though, before lower courts took note of the decision in other student-speech disputes. [continues 1862 words]
I'm writing about your thoughtful editorial: "Supreme Court protects megaphone." (7-9-07). Obviously, our so-called conservative Supreme Court justices felt high school students should not have freedom of speech when they talk or write about our sacred war on drugs. "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" brings into question one of America's most sacred institutions: our war on drugs. Without our sacred war on drugs, America would not be the most incarcerated nation in the history of human civilization. And we would need far fewer law-enforcement personnel, far fewer prison and jail guards, and no prison or jail builders. Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
Boca Raton Officials, Students React A student has the right to freedom of speech, but schools also have the right to limit it. Therefore, how much can a school limit before a student becomes speechless? A recent Supreme Court decision has called freedom of student speech into question for some. The U.S. Supreme Court decision upheld a school board's role to regulate student speech that could interfere with maintaining a safe, secure, and effective learning environment. The case, Morse v. Frederick, known as "Bong Hits 4 Jesus", involves Joseph Frederick, then a 18-year-old student, who unfurled a banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" at an event off school grounds where students from Alaska's Juneau-Douglas High School gathered to watch the Olympic Torch Relay pass. The school's then principal Deborah Morse seized the banner and suspended Frederick. He then sued based on his right of freedom of speech. [continues 1155 words]
The phrase "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" doesn't have a hidden meaning. In fact, it doesn't mean anything at all. When high school senior Joe Frederick held up a banner with those now-famous words in 2002, though, he triggered a chain of events that led to the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling drawing new lines around student free-expression rights in public schools. Frederick unfurled his "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" message while students and faculty were gathered to watch the Olympic torch pass by his school in Juneau, Alaska. [continues 439 words]
Inside The First Amendment "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" doesn't have a hidden meaning. In fact, the phrase doesn't mean anything at all. But when high school senior Joe Frederick held up a banner with those now-famous words in 2002, he triggered a chain of events that led to the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling drawing new lines around student free-expression rights in public schools. Frederick unfurled his "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" message while students and faculty were gathered to watch the Olympic torch pass by his school in Juneau, Alaska. [continues 622 words]
Here it is Independence Day, and Dale and I are hosting the canine cousins. This doesn't allow much independence because the two young males, our Strider and our daughter's Lemmy, are spittin' rather than kissin' cousins. But Cleo is having a ball. Guinness is odd man out, the old man who just wishes everyone would get along and a burger would fly off a grill as it did in the grand old days when his favored master, our son now in London, indulged him. Curses be on nanny vets who impose human dietary strictures on red meat and bones, stout-loving beasts. [continues 1227 words]
"Bong Hits 4 Jesus" doesn't have a hidden meaning. In fact, the phrase doesn't mean anything at all. But when high school senior Joe Frederick held up a banner with those now-famous words in 2002, he triggered a chain of events that led to the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling drawing new lines around student free-expression rights in public schools. Frederick unfurled his "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" message while students and faculty were gathered to watch the Olympic torch pass by his school in Juneau, Alaska. "The phrase was not important," he recently explained. "I wasn't trying to say anything about religion. I wasn't trying to say anything about drugs. I was just trying to say something. I wanted to use my right to free speech, and I did it." [continues 569 words]
The First Amendment of the Constitution, among other things, protects the rights of Americans to say and write what they want, generally without fear of government interference. That the Founding Fathers - facing prosecution by the crown for their words - would try to protect free speech and press is no surprise. They saw such expression as central to a healthy dialogue, and a sober dialogue as central to a strong democracy. Generally, the courts have extended that protection to things far beyond the political realm - even to pornography. With the exception of the Supreme Court's recent ruling about "Bong Hits 4 Jesus," the general trend has been to widen the right to free expression, even when the speech is stupid. [continues 304 words]
THE SUPREME COURT tackled two key issues concerning free speech recently, continuing with its recent rightward trend. The court wound up freeing up corporate and union political spending while putting more screws into students free speech. The court ruled 5-4 that a Wisconsin anti-abortion organization should have been allowed to sponsor advertisements using the names of the states two U.S. senators in the weeks before one of them stood for re-election. This came despite a 2002 federal campaign finance law that bars organizations from broadcasting electioneering ads specifically mentioning candidates before elections. The court concluded that because the ads did not mention the election or if the candidate was fit for office, the organization was free to run these advertisements. [continues 377 words]
Free speech is considered sacred in most universities. The right to discuss or advocate the mundane, the practical, or the fantastical is inherent in establishments of higher learning, though practiced to varying degrees. However, if such rights were limited in grade school, would we be so quick to enact them at university? That question deserves serious thought in both the U.S. and Canada, as issues of free speech regarding illegal drug use have recently caused a stir in the media. [continues 623 words]
The recent Supreme Court decision on the Bong Hits 4 Jesus case is indicative of the dwindling personal freedoms which Americans are guaranteed ("'Bong hits' student loses," June 26). Young Joe Frederick, in my view, created a provocative yet vague statement to attract attention. I admire his actions as a test of our country's tolerance of free speech. Choose your own reaction. Punk? Idiot? Comedian? Hero? It doesn't really matter now, does it? That's the beauty of free speech. [continues 160 words]
The Supreme Court should take a cue from the nonsensical banner that inspired their recent decision limiting student free speech. It might do them some good to take a few "bong hits 4 Jesus." Before sacrificing any more civil liberties at the altar of the drug war, they should ask themselves, what would Jesus do? Would Jesus persecute, incarcerate and deny forgiveness to nonviolent drug offenders? Zero tolerance is decidedly un-Christian. Morally, the drug war is wrong. On a practical level, the drug war is a complete failure. [continues 119 words]
The justices of the Supreme Court should take a cue from the nonsensical banner that inspired their decision to limit student free speech. It might do them some good to take a few bong hits for Jesus. Before sacrificing more civil liberties at the altar of the drug war, they should ask themselves, "What would Jesus do?" Would Jesus persecute, incarcerate and deny forgiveness to nonviolent drug offenders? Zero tolerance is decidedly unchristian. Morally, the drug war is wrong. On a practical level, the drug war is an abject failure. According to the FBI, there were 786,545 marijuana arrests in 2005, the vast majority of which were for simple possession. America is one of the few Western countries that punishes citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis, yet lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than in any European country (www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/espad_pr.pdf). [continues 79 words]
I'm writing about Gary Borders' thoughtful column: Students lose another chunk of free speech" (7-9-07). Obviously, our so-called conservative Supreme Court justices felt high-school students should not have freedom of speech when they talk or write about our sacred war on drugs. "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" brings into question one of America's most sacred institutions: our war on drugs. Without our sacred war on drugs, America would not be the most incarcerated nation is the history of human civilization. And we would need far fewer law-enforcement personnel, far fewer prison and jail guards, and no prison or jail builders. Mesa, AZ [end]
Court Restricts Speech Again Freedom of speech received another devastating blow in June. In a divided vote, the Supreme Court shot down an appeal by Joseph Frederick in the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case. According to cbsnews.com, the decision can limit any speech or action made by a student that appears to promote drug use. The case involved a banner made by Frederick, who was a senior at Juneau-Douglas High School in Juneau, Alaska, at the time, which sported the words "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." Frederick was suspended by the school's principal and then sued both the school board and the principal. [continues 276 words]
LUFKIN, Texas - The First Amendment rights of students took another whack last week when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a high-school principal who suspended a student for unfurling a banner that read, rather nonsensically, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." The 5-4 ruling only adds to the assault on free speech that continues nearly unabated in today's political climate. It's more than a little depressing for those of us who still believe the 45 words that comprise the First Amendment are the linchpin of our liberties. [continues 760 words]
"Speech with which this court agrees must be afforded the highest level of protection." That exact phrase wasn't used in either free speech ruling handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court last month, but it summarizes the majority opinions. On the same day, the court upheld the business transactions that amplify speech but ratified censorship of free speech itself. The two cases -- Morse v. Frederick and Federal Elections Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life -- exposed a court that appears more eager to defend political constituencies than a coherent view of the First Amendment. [continues 326 words]
When the legacy of George W. Bush is measured by future generations, Iraq in all its dimensions may well be the key factor in labeling him one of our most misguided presidents. Historians may concentrate on his administration's usurpation of authority and disdain for the U.S. Constitution's balance of powers between the three branches of the government. Yet no effect will probably be more lasting than Bush's appointments of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. [continues 566 words]
Nancy Crawley's column, "No blackout on freedom of speech" (Press, July 1) supported the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the First Amendment by appealing to America's most valuable resources, its free minds and free markets. Crawley also pointed out an obvious inconsistency: If open discussion is valuable to society, then why did the Supreme Court abridge First Amendment liberties in the recent student speech case, Morris v. Frederick? This contradiction must be addressed. The Supreme Court's decision granting schools the ability to censor student speech that "can reasonably be regarded as encouraging illegal drug use" cheapens the value of reason and personal responsibility. Virtues that were crucial to the founding of our nation have been replaced by the vice of patronizing micro-management. [continues 114 words]
Somebody please tell me that taxpayers' money was not used to pay for the U.S. Supreme Court to waste its time ruling on the Bong Hits 4 Jesus case ("'Bong hits' student loses," June 26). Are you telling me that there aren't more important cases than one where a spoiled brat got his feelings hurt because his principal took a sign down that referenced drug use? Something tells me that Jesus wouldn't sit down to take a bong hit. Doesn't sound like his style. Joe Frederick "insisted the slogan meant nothing specific and was not advocating drug use." Then why bother pressing on with this case? His 15 minutes of fame is over now. Go get a job and become a productive member of society. I am all for freedom of speech, but let's be serious here. - ---- David Snow Eagle River [end]
The Supreme Court's recent ruling on a high school free speech question seems legally correct but morally regrettable. Legally correct because, confronted with the question over who has final authority on school grounds for student behavior, the court is duty bound to uphold the supremacy of elected school boards and top administrators, Morally regrettable because, in practice, the decision undermines rather than expands student appreciation for free speech rights and responsibilities and often places teachers and other classroom advocates at odds with administrators and school board members. [continues 233 words]
FREE speech took it on the chin when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of an Alaska high school student who held up a banner as the Olympic torch was run through Juneau in 2002. As part of a prank Joseph Frederick claims was aimed at getting him TV coverage - not unlike some of those fans at ball games who hold up a sign to get their 10 seconds of fame - he showed a banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." [continues 442 words]
The Newseum in Washington, D.C., Vies With Local Museums to Acquire Object Although Juneau's Joseph Frederick lost his free-speech case before the U.S. Supreme Court, his controversial message may be preserved for future generations. The big question is which museum will display the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner that gained national attention. A prominent museum in Washington, D.C., the Newseum, is vying against two Juneau-based museums for the sign Frederick raised on Glacier Avenue in 2002 during the passing of the Olympic torch relay. [continues 555 words]
The Supreme Court recently considered a 2002 Alaska case involving the question of limits on the free speech rights of public school students. In a 5-4 vote it said that school principals could punish students for making statements that could be "reasonably" construed as advocating illegal drug use. At the center of the case was a banner spread in public view at the Olympic Torch Relay as runners headed for Salt Lake City. In big letters the banner proclaimed "BONG HiTS 4 JESUS." [continues 1023 words]
