In just a week, a high school junior from Pennsylvania will share her story about the battle with her district’s school board over the use of a word that her student newspaper staff considers a “racial slur.”[i]
Gillian McGoldrick, editor-in-chief of Neshaminy High School’s Playwickian, and the paper’s student editorial board, wrote a piece in the student newspaper back in November 2013 indicating that they were going to stop using the word “Redskins”, the school’s nickname and mascot, in their student publication. The administration disagreed with the students’ decision and a conflict regarding the school’s publications policy ensued. Recently, the school board removed McGoldrick from her position for one month, suspended the newspaper’s adviser for two days without pay, and deducted $1,200 from the student newspaper’s budget.[ii]
The Washington Post jumped on board with the Playwickian editors’ decision and banned the “insulting” word in the Washington Post’s opinion section.[iii] Although McGoldrick’s story has reached the national spotlight, a similar tale has been told before, in the Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988) Supreme Court decision.
In this case, the Court held “that educators do not offend the First Amendment by exercising editorial control over the style and content of student speech in school-sponsored expressive activities so long as their actions are reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns.”[iv] The school principal at Hazelwood East High School censored two pages of the six-page student paper because of the subject of the articles—pregnancy and divorce.
According to data from the Student Press Law Center (SPLC), the organization received 12 percent more calls for help from student journalists and advisers between 1988 and 1989 than in previous years.[v] The SPLC, a non-profit organization that advocates for the First Amendment rights of student journalists, was founded in 1974. The number of calls to the Center increased over 170 percent from 1989 to 1990. The SPLC reported, “almost all student journalists and advisers said that they attributed the censorship at least in part to the Hazelwood decision.”[vi]
In response to calls for assistance, the SPLC launched a campaign in 2012 called “Cure Hazelwood” to push for states to establish anti-Hazelwood laws that support “public forum” (non subject to censorship) student publications.[vii] California, Massachusetts, Iowa, Colorado, and Kansas passed laws that counteract the Hazelwood decision in their respective states.[viii]
Pennsylvania established certain regulations in their educational Code of Conduct (effective in 2006) that address student censorship issues. The actions of Neshaminy School District’s board likely violates the Code, according to Robert Hankes, the president of the Pennsylvania School Press Association.[ix] Under the Pennsylvania Code, “School officials shall supervise student newspapers published with school equipment, remove obscene or libelous material and edit other material that would cause a substantial disruption or interference with school activities.”[x]
The Pennsylvania Code adheres to the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) Supreme Court decision that gave students the freedom of expression on school grounds as long as the expression does not involve a “substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others.”[xi] In Tinker, two high school students and one junior high school student were suspended from school for wearing black armbands that signified a protest of the Vietnam War. The Court decided that armbands are a form of “pure speech” and do not disrupt conduct on school grounds.
The 5-3 Hazelwood decision came as a shock to student journalists and First Amendment advocacy organizations. Associate Justice William J. Brennan wrote in his dissenting Hazelwood opinion that the decision “chills student speech” because school officials can censor what they consider “sensitive.” Brennan explains, “[Moreover, the] State’s prerogative to dissolve the student newspaper entirely (or to limit its subject matter) no more entitles it to dictate which viewpoints students may express on its pages, than the State’s prerogative to close down the schoolhouse entitles it to prohibit the nondisruptive expression of antiwar sentiment within its gates.”[xii]
The Hazelwood decision also applies to other student organizations, not solely publications. Any student involved in theatre could have his or her freedom of expression taken away because the school desires “standards that may be higher than those demanded by some newspaper publishers or theatrical producers in the ‘real’ world.”[xiii]
Student journalists and actors do participate in the “real” world—who else other than students can have the inside scoop of the hallways in their high school or perform live productions for their peers? Students make up the “real” world because clearly, as we see in the Neshaminy situation, students impact the “real” world.
The SPLC, Journalism Education Association, and Student Press Rights Commission sent an open letter in September encouraging the student editors of the Playwickian “to explore their legal options and urge the State of Pennsylvania to investigate whether the Neshaminy School Board members should be removed.”[xiv]
McGoldrick will present at the 2014 Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Washington, D.C., Nov. 6-9. The program offers over 250 sessions for the attendees to learn about First Amendment law, ethics, writing, editing, broadcasting, and more. Over 5,000 student journalists and advisers are expected to attend the convention.
[i] Schiffbauer, Anna. "Playwickian Adviser, Student Editor Suspended for Defying Administrative Orders with Redskins Ban." Student Press Law Center. Student Press Law Center, 17 Sept. 2014. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. <http://www.splc.org/article/2014/09/playwickian-adviser-student-editor-suspended-for-redskins-ban>.
[ii] Reimold, Dan. "Redskins, Revenge, Censorship: The Ridiculous Mascot Fight at a Pennsylvania High School." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 09 Oct. 2014. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-reimold/redskins-revenge-censorsh_b_5958440.html>.
[iii] Editorial Board. "Washington Post Editorials Will No Longer Use 'Redskins' for the Local NFL Team." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 22 Aug. 2014. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.
[iv] Lockhart, William B., Yale Kamisar, and Jesse H. Choper. Constitutional Law: Cases, Comments, Questions. 11th ed. St. Paul, MN: West Pub., 1980. 1044. Print.
[v] "The Hazelwood Decision and Student Press | Scholastic.com." Scholastic Teachers. Student Press Law Center, n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. <http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/hazelwood-decision-and-student-press>.
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] "SPLC." Cure Hazelwood. Student Press Law Center, 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. <http://www.splc.org/section/cure-hazelwood>.
[viii] "The Hazelwood Decision and Student Press | Scholastic.com." Scholastic Teachers. Student Press Law Center, n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. <http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/hazelwood-decision-and-student-press>.
[ix] Spoont, Jenna. "Neshaminy School Board Passes New Policies Limiting Student Publications and School-related Social Media Rights." Student Press Law Center. Student Press Law Center, 27 June 2014. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. <http://www.splc.org/article/2014/06/neshaminy-school-board-passes-new-policies>.
[x] Students and Student Services, § 12 (2006). Print. The Pennsylvania Code
[xi] [xi] Lockhart, William B., Yale Kamisar, and Jesse H. Choper. Constitutional Law: Cases, Comments, Questions. 11th ed. St. Paul, MN: West Pub., 1980. 1039. Print.
[xii] Ibid., 1046.
[xiii] Ibid., 1044.
[xiv] "SPLC, JEA-SPRC Condemn Neshaminy School District For Punishing Newspaper Editor, Adviser in Ongoing Fight Over." "Redskins" Name. SPLC, JEA-SPRC, 17 Sept. 2014. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. <http://www.splc.org/article/2014/09/splc-jea-sprc-condemn-neshasminy-school-district>.