Student free speech vs. adviser job security?
“But what do you do if what they want to publish may cause a problem?” Rachel asked, a little furrow of a frown between her eyes.
She and the other 16 education majors in Kent State’s Teaching High School Journalism course had heard all about the value of a free press from Knight Chair in Scholastic Journalism Mark Goodman. He had met with them the week before when I had to miss class. Now I was back, explaining the value of the Tinker standard and re-emphasizing their future students’ First Amendment rights.
Rachel and most of the others felt our passion and wanted to believe, but…they envisioned a lot of “what ifs” for new teachers.
Read MoreThe time is now
Mary Beth Tinker addresses student and advisers at the Ohio Scholastic Media Association awards banquet April 5. (photo by Melinda Yoho)
Individuals and groups still have one day to help ensure The Tinker Tour: The Power of an Armband happens next fall. The “Tinker Tour” is a bus trip across the country to promote youth voices, free speech and a free press.
The tour’s goal, according to Mary Beth Tinker, tour organizer and plaintiff in the landmark Tinker v DesMoines U. S. Supreme Court decision, is to ” bring real-life civics lessons to schools and communities through my story and those of other young people.”
Every journalism student in the country has a real stake in seeing this tour happen, even to the point of bring it to their schools or home towns.
Tinker and co-organizer Mike Hiestand, who assisted countless media students and advisers as a consulting attorney for the Student Press Law Center, hope to start the tour on Constitution Day next fall and spend three to six months touring, depending on funding.
Pledging your financial support within the next 31 days will enable your funds to be matched by StartSomeGood, a crowdsourcing fundraiser.
Find out about the Tinker Tour here.
To donate to the Tinker Tour, go here.
As Mary Beth says in her appeal for support, “I made a difference with a simple, black armband. Can you imagine what a 13-year-old could do today with all of the extraordinary speech tools available?”
Join her and the others who believe in student expression as a tool for civic engagement in supporting the Tinker Tour.
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Support the Tinker Tour
Mary Beth Tinker addresses student and advisers at the Ohio Scholastic Media Association awards banquet April 5. (photo by Melinda Yoho)
Individuals and groups still have 31 days to help ensure The Tinker Tour: The Power of an Armband happens next fall. The “Tinker Tour” is a bus trip across the country to promote youth voices, free speech and a free press.
The tour’s goal, according to Mary Beth Tinker, tour organizer and plaintiff in the landmark Tinker v DesMoines U. S. Supreme Court decision, is to ” bring real-life civics lessons to schools and communities through my story and those of other young people.”
Every journalism student in the country has a real stake in seeing this tour happen, even to the point of bring it to their schools or home towns.
Tinker and co-organizer Mike Hiestand, who assisted countless media students and advisers as a consulting attorney for the Student Press Law Center, hope to start the tour on Constitution Day next fall and spend three to six months touring, depending on funding.
Pledging your financial support within the next 31 days will enable your funds to be matched by StartSomeGood, a crowdsourcing fundraiser.
Find out about the Tinker Tour here.
To donate to the Tinker Tour, go here.
As Mary Beth says in her appeal for support, “I made a difference with a simple, black armband. Can you imagine what a 13-year-old could do today with all of the extraordinary speech tools available?”
Join her and the others who believe in student expression as a tool for civic engagement in supporting the Tinker Tour.
Read MoreTweet16: Know how to fight legal battles, if you must
If legal battles are necessary, students have to fight them, and know protected from unprotected speech. #25HZLWD http://tinyurl.com/bc98rs4
Advisers cannot fight legal battles for students. It is imperative students understand the difference between protected and unprotected speech and what is worth fighting for. Additionally, students need to know the process and resources available for them to fight censorship. Decisions to enter into legal battles cannot be made lightly. Before this step is taken, know the best ways to fight.
Resources for unprotected speech:
• SPLC/CMA Legal Bootcamp – Student Press Law Center
http://www.splc.org/presentations/pppressfreedom.pps
• Student media guide to Internet law
http://www.splc.org/knowyourrights/legalresearch.asp?id=73
• Understanding student free-expression laws
http://www.splc.org/news/report_detail.asp?id=1351&edition=43
• SPLC presentations and handouts usable in the classroom; also lesson plans (scroll down the page)
http://www.splc.org/presentations/
• SPLC podcasts
http://www.splc.org/podcasts/
• First Amendment FAQs
http://archive.firstamendmentcenter.org/Speech/faqs.aspx?id=15822&
• Legal guide for the private school press
http://www.splc.org/knowyourrights/legalresearch.asp?id=52
Resources for fighting censorship:
• Fighting censorship: A Checklist
http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/trends/~law0305hs.html
• Fighting censorship after Hazelwood
http://www.splc.org/knowyourrights/legalresearch.asp?id=5
• High school confidential
http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=2554
• Censorship statement
http://azaipa.org/?page_id=66
• A student media adviser’s guide to fighting (and surviving)_ censorship
https://www.splc.org/classroomresources/mediaadvisertips.asp
• Fighting journalistic media censorship must start locally
http://jeasprc.org/fighting-scholastic-media-censorship-must-start-locally/
• Posts tagged “The Spoke”
http://jeasprc.org/tag/the-spoke/
• Resources for publications facing censorship
http://friendsofthespoke.org/Resources_for_a_publication_facing_censorship_-_Friends_of_The_Spoke.html
• Press freedom at a public junior or high school
http://www.splc.org/knowyourrights/legalresearch.asp?subcat=1
Start the semester out right
Just relaxing and avoiding work is a good way to spend winter break, but, with the new semester not far off, maybe a little time can go into getting lesson plans in order. Why not explore some of the wealth of online materials available?
Particularly if it’s a new group of students and a new course, starting out with legal and ethical training is vital. So…here’s a belated holiday gift: Links to some sites with a wide range of teaching materials, from discussion-starters to entire units. Browse for now and bookmark for later.
- Of course the JEA Scholastic Press Rights Commission has plenty on its Web site, everything from podcasts to PowerPoints to 5-minute lessons to start a class thinking. Most of these are in the “teaching materials” link.
- The Student Press Law Center has an amazing array of Media Law Presentations. These cover copyright, libel and more, and each has a PowerPoint with teachers’ presentation notes.
- If you’re not familiar with the American Society of News Editors High School Journalism Initiative site, you should be. In the archived lesson plans its summer institute teachers create are a number concerning legal and ethical issues.
- NAA Foundation supports youth journalism in many ways, including funding vital research. The Newspaper in Education (NIE) section of the Web site includes lesson plans for many levels and a variety of courses. “First Things First: Using the Newspaper to Teach the Five Freedoms of the First Amendment” is one good example.
- The First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., and in Washington, D.C., has as part of its Web site “Education for Freedom: Lesson Plans for Teaching the First Amendment.” These, too, work for various age levels, and all focus on the importance of those 45 words added to our Constitution.
- Want something a little more interactive? Something students might do on their own? Try News University, part of The Poynter Institute for Media Studies. With a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, NewsU offers online training for newsroom journalists and classroom ones, too. Check out the large range of (mostly) free, interactive courses. For our purposes here, consider “Introduction to Ethical Decision-making,” but the course list probably has others of interest as well.
No one wants to spend the holidays focused on school. BUT no one wants to come back after vacation, scrambling to find good materials to use. A little time browsing now can make a lot of difference later in January.
Happy New Year!
Candace Perkins Bowen, MJE
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