YDC Talks to Adam Goldstein of SPLC Kathy Zhang Adam Goldstein Answers a Physical Disruption of the School Day
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In this issue Annual Reader Survey 4 Entertainment 9–10 Humor 13 Lifestyle 5–7 C-SPAN airs YDC previews On the Street 16 key equal News 1–3, 15 summer movies Sports 12 rights cases p. 8 Viewpoints 14 p. 5 Volume 20 • Number 4 • Summer 2011 Please display through Labor Day YDC talks to Adam Goldstein of SPLC Kathy Zhang Adam Goldstein answers a physical disruption of the school day. They cer- questions from college and Young D.C. high school students in the tainly don’t have a general right to police what Censorship is the outcome of schools maintain- Ask Adam feature at www. students do at home, even if they do it online, and splc.org. ing order by reducing the free speech of students. Readers can view the even if school computers can access the speech. Adam Goldstein, attorney advocate for the Student censored stick figure The fact that online speech may eventually find its cartoon of the Ithaca case Press Law Center (SPLC), told YDC why censorship by visiting http://www. way on campus doesn’t mean that student speak- is not the best way to go and does not even work. splc.org/news/newsflash. ers are always on campus when they’re online. asp?id=2222 then scrolling In 2008,when students at Ithaca HS in New to and clicking on “view the YDC: As student-run blogs and [independent] York were not allowed to print a cartoon in the cartoon.” newspapers are not reviewed, if a student pub- school newspaper, they created an independent pub- Screenshot from Ask Adam video lishes false information about another student or a lication called The March Issue and printed the car- nors as they grow up. Most of the people who do end teacher, should they be punished through the toon. The school would not allow the students to up as killer[s] or someone who commits crime only school? If not, why? If so, how harsh should the distribute the paper. Through lawsuits brought by does it because of their choices in life.” consequences be? the students, the school won in an appeals court Gregory Bates, 16, a senior at Fishburne Mili- Goldstein: Generally speaking, the school shouldn’t May 18, 2011, but this case could go all the way to tary HS in Waynesboro, Va., agrees with both Park be in the business of policing speech, period. We the U.S. Supreme Court. YDC found blogs and com- and Oduro and adds, “Censorship only causes illegal already have a court system for that. If someone mentary that call this the worst student free speech transactions to occur.” wants to sue for libel, they can. Administrative au- decision made in 20 years–until adults started blog- Ironically, the cartoon in the Ithaca appeals court thority is for maintaining order, not for vindicat- ging and talking about a June 27 Supreme Court free decision uses stick figures and the “lewdness” of the ing personal reputations. speech decision on video games. drawings is not graphic. Goldstein is against censor- YDC: Since student-run newspapers and blogs are The Supreme Court deemed a California law ship. People, he said, tend to want to censor ‘im- discouraged to some degree, how else should the banning the sale of violent video games to minors moral’ things, but authority should be used for order student use their right to free expression? How was unconstitutional. Because of the gruesome au- and not to shape values. much free expression does a student really have? thenticity in video game graphics would affect a mi- YDC talked to Goldstein after the Ithaca deci- Goldstein: When at school in a school activity or us- nor’s mind, a California Assemblyman wrote a bill to sion: ing school resources, students can be censored make selling or renting videos with mature ratings to YDC: Should blogging and student-produced news- when the school can explain some legitimate edu- minors punishable by fine in 2005 and Governor papers be publicly advertised in schools? Should cational reason for doing so. When it is individual Schwarzenneger signed it into law that year. Supreme the school advocate free expression and advocate student speech at school, not part of an activity, it Court Justice Antonin Scalia disagrees and wrote in students to run blogs? can only be censored when it’s illegal or disrup- his opinion that, “Disgust is not a valid basis for re- Goldstein: The right to free speech includes the right tive. And when a student is at home, on a com- stricting expression.” Scalia also recounts violent to tell other people that you’re speaking and how puter, that speech can’t be censored at all in most situations in books on high school reading lists, such to find what you said. So absolutely, there ought to cases. So anytime a school censors something at as Lord of the Flies. Books are not off limits, video be ways to advertise student-produced publica- school, I think a student should turn around and games should be the same way. tions, online or otherwise, in schools. And any publish it outside of school, whether online or in a Marvin Oduro, 17, a senior at Paint Branch HS school that doesn’t want to support the idea of free community paper. Administrators want to censor in Burtonsville, Md., said, “I hate being restricted speech and self-expression doesn’t need to exist in because they don’t want you to read what some- from material. If I don’t see violence from a video this country, in my view. If they prefer a world one said. If you get the word out every time, they’ll game, I’d see it some other way.” without free speech, they can pack up and move to learn that censorship never works. Bryan Park, 14, a sophomore at James Hubert the other side of the world. Blake HS in Silver Spring, Md., said, “Violent video YDC: Should schools be able to regulate student Kathy Zhang, 16, is a rising junior at Paint games should be purchased by minors. I don’t think blogs and student-produced newspapers? Branch HS in Burtonsville, Md. minors play too much of these violent video games. I Goldstein: Schools only have the power to regulate believe that violent video games doesn’t affect mi- speech when it’s either in school or when it creates News t Young D.C. t Summer 2011 Summer 2011 t Young D.C. t News Circuit court changes terrain for high school C-SPAN celebrates Young D.C. is an independent newspaper written by and about metropolitan area teens. equal rights protections censorship of independent newspapers Address correspondence to: David Marston In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court held Lindsey Rennie tive, that is valuable input that policymakers should take into consideration,” said Young D.C. Special to Young D.C. that an amendment to the Colorado constitu- Young D.C. LoMonte. “The government should never be in the position of ordering people to 1904 18th Street, NW Unit B Intended to protect against discrimina- tion that prevents protected status under the May 18, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals Second Circuit (cov- stifle their criticism of government programs, particularly when speaking in publi- Washington, D.C. 20009-1707 tion since its ratification in 1868, the Equal law for homosexuals or bisexuals was struck ering Connecticut, New York and Vermont) ruled that censorship of lewd material cations that they publish themselves.” tel: 202.232.5300 Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution down because it was not rationally related to in school newspapers is legal, regardless of whether a paper is school-sponsored or The federal circuit court’s ruling found that The Tattler is a “limited public fax: 202.232.5306 will be commemorated on C-SPAN Radio a legitimate state interest. The three dissent- produced independently by students. This decision addressed a sex-ed stick figure forum,” meaning that it is nonpublic and is still able to be censored by the school, www.youngdc.org throughout the month of July. Found in Sec- ing votes were Chief Justice Rehnquist, Jus- Copyright. All rights reserved. cartoon that was created for the January 2005 issue of Ithaca High School’s school which, advocates believe, restricts students’ First Amendment rights. If The Tattler tion One of the 14th Amendment, the provi- tice Scalia and Justice Thomas. newspaper, The Tattler. School officials forbade students from printing the cartoon were deemed a “designated public forum,” then the school would not be permitted sion states: July 23: Gender Discrimination in Jury Se- Reporters: Charity Ajayi, McKinley Tech (D.C.); Faith Ajayi, in the school-sponsored paper, so students created an independent paper, produced to censor its contents. “All persons born or naturalized in the lection–J.E.B. v. Alabama (1994) McKinley Tech (D.C.); Mohammad Diallo, Syracuse University off school-grounds, called The March Issue, in which the cartoon was printed. The Student Press Law Center issued a statement saying the judges decided United States and subject to the jurisdiction In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court held (NY); Alex Greenhill, The Lab School of Washington (D.C.); Dana However, Ithaca City School District Officials did not allow copies of The March the case on the basis of a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Bethel School District v. thereof, are citizens of the United States and that intentional discrimination on the basis of Harrison, Wootton HS (Md.); Asha Johnson, Howard University Issue to be distributed on campus at the school.