Another look at school banner case
June 27th, 2007, 10:23 am · Post a Comment · posted by Scott Shackford
In an editorial at the OC Register today, their crew hit on an issue related to the “Bong hits for Jesus” banner case that I didn’t even realize when I wrote about it in the blog. It wasn’t even a school event where the student unfurled his banner. The principal allowed students to leave the school to watch the Olympic torch relay pass through town.
With this information, I’d have to say that the decision is a far more serious blow against the First Amendment rights of students then I first thought. It makes it permissible for school administrators to monitor speech in places where they don’t have the real jurisdiction to do so. Expect to see more instances of schools taking action against students’ use of speech in public areas that aren’t necessarily connected to the school, such as Web sites.
