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In this issue Entertainment 8–9 After Penn State scandal, Lifestyle 4–7 YDC checks out laws that News 1–3 say who must report cases Breaking Dawn– On the Street 12 Is it really PG-13? Soapbox 11 of child abuse p. 8 Viewpoints 10 p. 3 Volume 21 issue 3 November 2011 YDC checks out the Occupy DC scene Kathy Zhang In both movements, people protesting were Young D.C. mistreated and called names. Protesters in each said Employees, frustrated consumers and even they were not earning fair wages. Although occupi- students have taken to the streets to rally against ers have sustainable laws protecting their right to greed. This movement has captured the spotlight free speech compared to the South during the Civil in the news, the eye of the American public, even Rights movement, protests sometimes have gotten though that was not always the case. out of hand and the police came in overreacting and The ideas of Occupy Wall Street made its way making numerous arrests. to Washington, D.C. Oct. 1, two weeks after the There are two established “occupy” locations protesters rallied and stayed in Zuccotti Park in in D.C: one on Freedom Plaza (Pennsylvania Ave- New York. The protests first started with an activist nue N.W. between 13th and 14th Streets) and the group, Adbusters, which opposes consumerism, one in McPherson Square (15th and K Streets, corporate greed and the unequal distribution of NW), both urban downtown areas. Freedom Plaza wealth. Adbusters is also the name of the group’s occupants call themselves Stop the Machine and magazine, which is published in Canada. Targeting McPherson Square occupants call themselves Oc- Sept. 17 as a start date, the group and the magazine cupy D.C. However, neither group tweets as Oc- called on the 99 percent of Americans who are not cupyDC. Information from occupiers comes from super-rich to occupy the financial district and dem- Occupy_DC or OccupyKSt. The National Park onstrate against the corrupting effect money has on Service has extended the permit to protest in Free- democracy. Since then, people with similar view- dom Plaza for another four months. points have worked to enlarge the protest and Nov. 17, D.C. and Arlington, Va. (OccupyNo- spread the message. Va), occupiers marched to take over Key Bridge in The movement quickly spread through the D.C.’s Georgetown. Blogger Martin Austermuhle media. The website, http://occupywallst.org/, covered the march for DCist (dcist.com) and con- streams video of protests and police responses. trasted the professional methods of D.C. Metropol- Twitter accounts for groups across the country con- itan Police with the riot-geared Virginia police. stantly update status of the movement’s local activ- With police in other cities surrounding the ity. Newspaper, television and radio coverage scenes and arresting those who have become too makes the news. rowdy for their liking, YouTube is filling up A topic similar to Occupy Wall Street is not a with videos posted from New York to Seattle. typical conversation starter among teens, but OWS The viral video on YouTube of hundreds of is now so widespread, that it seems everyone has New York protestors being forcefully arrested by heard of the movement. It ignited class discussions police has led to the misconception that police all when students saw parallels between OWS and the around the United States have been mistreating and Civil Rights movement. Elkie Schwartz, 16, a ju- overreacting to protestors. The movement in D.C. nior at Paint Branch HS in Burtonsville, Md., par- has had more luck with the police than other areas ticipated in a class discussions and says that, “usu- that are protesting the same issues. For example, in ally I don’t even pay attention to these protests, but New York, tents are now banned in Zuccotti Park, this protest has been big for a while. And actually a so OWS protestors are not able to camp out. close family friend is protesting in this event. He says he’s doing it for justice, much like the purpose Kathy Zhang, 16, is a junior at Paint Branch of the Civil Rights movement.” High School in Burtonsville, Md. Chidiki Jones Whitley, 16, is a junior at the photos by Chidiki Jones Whitley Signs of our times–McPherson Square is occupied with Lab School of Washington in the District of many handmade signs Nov. 17, 2011. Columbia. News t Young D.C. t November 2011 High school free speech wins case in Iowa Cassidy Riley Young D.C. April Fools Day is a tradition that most people honor with putting shrink-wrap on the toilet seat or a ‘kick me’ sign on someone’s back. The staffers at the Waukon Senior High School Tribe-une have always honored the holiday with an April Fools issue full of false and humorous articles. In 2008, no one would have guessed that Lange v. Diercks Lange v. this traditional prank would have resulted in Tribe-une advisor, Ben Lange, suing the school’s principal, Dan Diercks, and the Allamakee Community School District in Waukon, Iowa. Articles ranged from encouraging cell phone use at school to claiming that cheerleaders were on steroids. Throughout the paper it was clearly printed, “this issue is a parody created in celebration of All Fools’ Day. It contains no factual in- formation.” Despite the disclaimers and tradition, some people in the community felt that the material printed in this issue was inappropriate. The local newspaper that publishes the Tribe-une as an insert every month said that it would not publish the April Fools issue anymore. Lange told YDC, “They are a private company and have that right.” Another problem started when Diercks issued two reprimands on Lange’s per- sonnel record for material printed in the April Fools issue and in an issue printed Sept. 30, 2009. The school was infringing on the rights of student journalist protected by Io- wa’s Student Exercise of Free Expression Code 280.22, which states that material printed by student journalists cannot be censored unless the articles are obscene, slanderous, libelous, encourage students towards unlawful acts, violate school rules or cause a “substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the school.” In 2010, Lange sued Diercks and the school district for violating his students’ rights and for unfairly issuing the reprimands on his record. Lange said deciding to sue the school district was “wrenchingly difficult” but “student press rights are more important than an inconvenience; the United States was founded on press freedoms.” The Allamakee School District made the case in the lower court that articles in both issues such as “Meth Lab Found in Biology Lab, Matt Breitbach Faces Crimi- nal Charges” from the April Fools issue (with a photo of biology teacher Breitbach) and “Students Chew, Use Tobacco” from the Sept. 30 issue met the exceptions given in the free expression code. Appeals Court of Iowa record is part of the SHS Tribe-une April Fools issue of the Waukon The The lower court sided with the school district, but Lange did not give up. As described in the higher courts ruling, Lange argued that the articles were not libelous The school district claimed violations of Code 280.22 in the April Fools because the student journalists obtained each person’s consent prior to the publica- issue, but the Iowa Appeals Court disagreed: tion. He provided the court with an affidavit that said the class obtained consent from • Changing the paper’s name to Bribe-une each person featured in the April Fools edition, as well as written release forms. • Referring to Keysux Senior High School in the masthead Lange said the school district was unable to point out exactly where the articles en- • Designating the edition as Issue 66 Volume 6 66 Sixth Avenue N.W. couraged students toward unlawful acts because the articles did not encourage stu- • Articles headlined “Tierney to the Rescue”; “Sophomores Not Allowed to Grand dents towards unlawful acts at all. March”; “Cheerleaders on ‘Roids”; “New Jim Floor Settles”; and “Cell Phones After hearing both sides of the case, on Nov. 9, the appeals court declared that Allowed” the published articles did not violate Code 280.22 and that the reprimands on Lange’s • An article headlined “Meth Lab Found in Biology Lab, Matt Breitbach Faces file be removed. Criminal Charges” with an accompanying photo of biology teacher Breitbach Fortunately, throughout these court hearings, the working and learning com- • Photographs of a student wearing a headband; a student wearing a hooded sweat- munity at Waukon Senior High School has not been negatively impacted. shirt and displaying “gang signs”; a student with a dead cat; and a student foot- “Every employee in the Allamakee Community School District has always— ball player always—been professional,” said Lange. “Hopefully this case will help clarify the • Quotes in the Speaking Our Minds section responding to the question, “Where do law and guide future student press decisions.” you see yourself after high school?” One student said he would “like to go to a Lange still works at Waukon Senior High School and is not ruling out the pos- Chippendale’s tryout.” Another said she wanted to be “an all-American gang- sibility that he may return to his former position as the Tribe-une staff advisor. ster, dog.” A third said he “totally, like, want[s] to be a super model for Victoria’s Secret!” Cassidy Riley, 17, is a senior at Des Moines North HS in Des Moines, Ia. The school district claimed violations Code 280.22 in the Sept.

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