Celebrating Student Press Freedom Day, 50 years of student rights

Mary Beth Tinker claps her hands while singing a song to high school students in the grand ball room Oct. 1, 2013 at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. The engagement was part of the Mary Beth Tinker Bus Tour. (Photo by David Dermer)

by Lori Keekley, MJE
SPRC members have been working to amass several resources for you as we kick off our celebration of the Tinker anniversary with Student Press Freedom Day. The goal is to keep celebrating Student Press Freedom Day daily leading up to the 50th anniversary of the Tinker decision.

What’s new
Need a bell ringer? We have 18 days worth of scenarios that span from Student Press Freedom Day to the 50th anniversary of the Tinker decision. These scenarios address real-world situations students face. These scenarios include possible answers to guide discussion and resources for further research.

Podcast
This episode celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Tinker decision. Kent State University Knight Chair Mark Goodman explains the importance of the Tinker decision and high school students share what Tinker means to them. Subscribers can listen here and everyone here.

Student Day of Action lesson
Since it’s the Student Day of Action, we decided to give you a lesson plan to educate students about the Tinker decision and (hopefully) inspire them to action. The lesson includes a video of Mary Beth Tinker discussing the Tinker decision and addresses how students can (and should) take action.

As a culminating part of this lesson, students can write a postcard that will be delivered to Mary Beth Tinker on the 50th Anniversary. (You will need to print these on cardstock and then mail them. Details are in the lesson.)

But that’s not all …

We realized as we were creating content to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Tinker case we have so much relevant material. Here are a few, by category, of lessons, blogs, legal concepts and information concerning creating a staff manual with sections on mission, editorial policy, ethical guidelines and staff manual procedures.

It’s also a great time to revisit SPRC’s Quick Tips, which are more than 90 quick pieces addressing everything from empowering student content decisions to the importance of having editorial policies.

As always, please contact me if you have any suggestions or questions concerning this material or have other ideas for contributions.

Thank you and enjoy the celebration.

Lori Keekley

Collaborators include:
Scenarios: John Bowen, Tom Gayda and Lori Keekley
Lesson: Lori Keekley
Podcast: Kristin Taylor