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PAGE 4, MARCH i3GL.2009, THE ISLANDER
UIBLIC If O RUM
Opinion
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2008
The Schools are destroying Freedom of Speech
By John W. Whiteheod
"The Constitution makes clear
there can be no religious test for
holding office, and it is just as clear
there can be no religious test for
individual expression of free speech-
-or censorship thereof, including at a
high school graduation."—Nat Hent-
off, author and journalist
Looking at America's public
schools, it is difficult to imagine that
they were once considered the hope of
freedom and democracy. That dream
is no longer true. The majority of
students today have little knowledge
of the freedoms they possess in the
Constitution and, specifically, in the
Bill of Rights.
For example, a national survey
of high school students reveals that
only 2% can identify the Chief Jus
tice of the Supreme Court; 35% know
the first three words of the U.S.
Constitution; 1.8% know that James
Madison is considered the father
of the U.S. Constitution; and 25%
know that the Fifth Amendment
protects against double jeopardy and
self incrimination, among other legal
rights. Clearly, high school civics
classes are failing to teach the impor
tance of our constitutional liberties.
Public educators do not fare much
better in understanding and imple
menting the Constitution in the
classroom. A study conducted by
the University of Connecticut found
that while public educators seem to
support First Amendment rights in
principle, they are reluctant to apply
such rights in the schools. Conse
quently, the few students who do
know and exercise their rights are
forced to deal with school officials
who, more often than not, fail to
respect those rights.
Unfortunately, instead of being
the guardians of freedom, the courts
increasingly are upholding acts of
censorship by government officials.
As a result, the horrific lesson being
taught to our young people is that
the government has absolute power
over its citizens and young people
have very little freedom. Two inci
dents come to mind to illustrate this
sad state of affairs, both having to do
with school officials heavy-handedly
silencing student expression at high
school graduation ceremonies.
The first incident involves Nicho
las Noel, the senior class president of
his graduating class at Grand Rap
ids Union High School in Michigan.
With more than 1,000 people in the
audience listening to Noel deliver his
commencement address, school offi
cials turned off the microphone when
he strayed from his approved speech
and referred to the high school as
a "prison." Noel said he described
the school as a "prison" because
it stressed conformity and students
were "expected to act alike." His
message was that high school paints
an incomplete picture of life for stu
dents. "The colors of life are yet to
come," Noel said. "It was really nice,
nothing in bad taste. I tried to be dif
ferent, and I was punished." Adding
insult to injury, school officials even
initially refused to award him his
diploma.
The second incident, strikingly
similar to Noel's, also involves a stu
dent whose microphone was cut off
during her graduation speech simply
because she voiced her personal con
victions. Brittany McComb, the grad
uating valedictorian at Foothill High
School in Nevada, was instructed by
school officials to reflect over past
experiences and lessons learned, say
things that came from her heart and
inject hope into her speech. Brittany
adhered to the school's guidelines
and wrote about the true meaning
of success in her life—her religious
beliefs. However, when she submit
ted her speech in advance to school
administrators, they censored it,
deleting several Bible verses and
references to "the Lord" and one
mention of "Christ."
Believing that the district's cen
sorship amounted to a violation of
her right to free speech, McComb
attempted to deliver the original
version of her speech at graduation.
The moment school officials real
ized that she was straying from the
approved text, they unplugged her
microphone. The move drew extend
ed jeers from the audience, with
some people screaming, "Let her
speak!"
School officials justified their
actions by claiming that McComb's
speech amounted to proselytizing.
McComb disagrees. "I was telling my
story," she said. "And if what I said
was proselytizing, it was no more
so than every other speaker who
espoused his or her personal moral
viewpoint about success. We're talk
ing about life here: opinions about
the means of success in life, from
whatever source, are indeed forms
of individual religious expression.
It's also hard for me to believe that
anyone at graduation could think I
or any other speaker was speaking
on behalf of the school system."
McComb filed a First Amend
ment lawsuit in federal court. But
on March 19, 2009, a federal appeals
court held that school officials did not
violate her First Amendment rights
by censoring her speech and unplug
ging the microphone. McComb, who
is majoring in journalism at Biola
University, plans to appeal to the
U.S. Supreme Court.
She should not expect much help
from the ACLU. Despite being a long
time champion of student expression,
the ACLU actually condoned the
school's act of censorship. As ACLU
lawyer Allen Lichtenstein remarked
about the case, "It's important for
people to understand that a student
was given a school-sponsored forum
by a school and therefore, in essence,
it was a school-sponsored speech."
Frankly, if the ACLU applied this
logic consistently, then nowhere in
the schools would students have the
right to say anything that wasn't
approved by their teachers or high-
level school officials since every area
in a public school is controlled and
sponsored by the school.
Unfortunately, the trend in the
federal courts is to agree with this
type of skewed reasoning. However,
this type of logic will only succeed in
eradicating free expression by stu
dents in schools, and the ramifica
tions are far-reaching. Eventually, it
will mean that government officials
can pull the plug on microphones
when they disagree with whatever
any citizen has to say. Yet the lessons
of history are clear: every authori
tarian regime from Hitler to Saddam
Hussein has not only unplugged citi
zens' microphones but stopped those
with whom the government disap
proved from speaking.
Civil libertarians and the courts
have long held that the First Amend
ment right to free speech applies to
everyone, whatever their beliefs. This
includes what many people consider
offensive or deplorable speech. It
also includes speech that persuades,
as well as religious speech, non-reli
gious speech or pointedly atheistic
speech. Thus, unless we want free
speech to end up in a totalitarian
graveyard, no one, no matter their
viewpoint or ideology, should be cen
sored in any state institution.
Constitutional attorney and author
John W. Whitehead is founder and
president of The Rutherford Insti
tute. He can be contacted at jolinwds
rutherford.org. □
A Safeguard Worth Noticing
p"
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