Summer 2008 - Student Rights

Student Speech: The Enduring Greatness of Tinker

By Jamin B. Raskin

The Supreme Court’s decision in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969), did for the ideal of freedom in America’s public schools what Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), did for the ideal of equality. It made a core value of the Bill of Rights spring to life for young people facing unjust policies and authoritarian treatment at the hands of adult officials in local school systems.

Education

A Conversation with Mary Beth Tinker

As the fortieth anniversary of the landmark decision in Tinker approaches, Mary Beth Tinker reflects on student rights today.

Education

Student Journalism Confronts a New Generation of Legal Challenges

by Frank D. LoMonte

The idea that student journalists in colleges and high schools are entitled to First Amendment protection from school censorship is now well-settled law. But the extent of that protection is being tested by subtler and less direct forms of censorship, which courts have confronted with varying results.

Education

Student Privacy versus Campus Security: An Overstated Conflict

by Daniel Silverman

The shootings at Virginia Tech are viewed as illustrative of a direct conflict between student privacy and campus security. While tension exists between these values, it is inaccurate to characterize them as directly in conflict. In fact, federal privacy protection law provides plenty of opportunities for information sharing in situations where campus security may be implicated. In addition, campuses are, for the most part, safe.

Health

Abstinence-Only Education: Violating Students' Rights to Health Information

by Leslie M. Kantor

By censoring and distorting information and prohibiting teachers and health educators from providing factual information, abstinence-only programs raise numerous human rights and ethical concerns. There is some hope that a change in the federal administration as well as the growing body of evidence that abstinence-only programs do not work will lead to change in policy at both federal and state levels.

Education

The Need to Address Equal Educational Opportunities for Women and Girls

by Ariela Migdal, Emily J. Martin, Mie Lewis and Lenora M. Lapidus

While all students are vulnerable to assaults on their rights, girls and women face distinct challenges with the increasingly popular notion of sex-segregated educational programs, the lack of opportunities as a result of sexual violence, and the inadequate educational programs for girls in the juvenile justice system.

Education

The Speech Divide: GLBT Students Struggle for Visibility and Safety

by Sarah Warbelow

As GLBT students seek to be recognized as a vital part of the academic community, their freedom of speech can be threatened by schools' efforts to minimize their visibility.

Education

Human Rights Hero: Mary Beth Tinker

by Stephen J. Wermiel

Mary Beth Tinker has been standing up for the rights of students for more than forty ears, and one of the things that keeps here going is the young people she meets who are also willing to fight for what they believe.