Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier,

HAZELWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT v. KUHLMEIER, 484 U.S. 260 (1988)

Cause of Action: Not a violation of the First Amendments of rights of freedom of speech

Facts: Spectrum was the in-house publication of Hazelwood East and it was the part of the Journalism course that was being taught to students. The general practice of the petitioner Emerson was to refer the final draft of the paper to the principal Reynolds for his final approval. Objection was raised on May 10 issue of the paper by the principal on two articles that related to sensitive issues. One was related to pregnancy experience of students and the other was on effect of divorce on students. The stories involved indirectly or directly stories of students that could have hurt them. Considering the sensitivity of the issues and time constraints the principal took the decision to withhold the two stories for final printing.

Issues: Is withholding the articles from the paper and exercising control over editorial content a violation of the First Amendment rights of freedom of students?

Ruling: Educators do not offend the First Amendment by exercising editorial control if it is limited to legitimate pedagogical concern.

Reasoning:

First & Fourth Amendment: According to the First Amendment of U.S. Constitution, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." It is not just the First Amendment that strengthens the right of freedom of an individual in the United States but another Amendment called Fourteenth Amendment also supports and guarantees all of its citizen's equality.

Exception to the Rule: Even though First & Fourth Amendment of U.S. constitution grants its citizens the right of freedom of speech but this freedom is not available in absolute terms. Many a times schools & educational institutions exercise control in different affairs related to its curricula, extra curricular activities and even in-house publications. The administration however can not take this exception for granted and have to prove that their control does not blatantly impinge upon the rights given to students by the First & the Fourth amendment of the constitution.

First Amendment Right to Schools: Just like First amendment gives rights to the students similarly the same laws give rights to schools to promote particular student speech. They have the right to control "school sponsored publications, theatrical productions, and other expressive activities that students, parents, and members of the public might reasonably perceive to bear the imprimatur of the school."

Analysis: