Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier | BRI’s Homework Help Series
What free speech rights do you have as a student? In the Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988) Supreme Court ruling, the court found that articles written in the school newspaper are not subject to 1st Amendment, freedom of speech rights for student journalist. Learn how the court came to this answer in the latest episode of BRI's Homework Help Series on the case of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier.
0:01 Have you ever wondered how far your right to freedom of speech extends in school? Freedom of speech is a right granted to all U.S. citizens by the First Amendment to the Constitution. But how exactly should this be applied to a school newspaper? This is the story of Hazelwood versus
0:21 Kuhlmeier in 1983 at Hazelwood East High School in Missouri, The Spectrum was a newspaper written and published by student journalists. Naturally, its contents reflected their interests and concerns.
0:43 And in May of that year, it included a series of articles exploring how divorce and teen pregnancy had impacted the lives of fellow students. The school’s principal had a policy to review a draft of the newspaper before each one was published. But when he read this edition, he was concerned
1:04 that the identities of students and parents could be exposed even though they had been given false names. He removed the article before the paper was published without telling the students. Convinced their freedom of expression was being infringed upon, student journalists, led by editor Cathy Kuhlmeier
1:24 sued the school for violating their First Amendment right. The principal and school district argued that schools should be able to edit a newspaper connected with a journalism class when stories contain inappropriate content or threaten the privacy of students. The US District Court ruled
1:44 that the school did have the authority to remove articles from a paper produced on school grounds. But the students appealed and the decision was overturned with the Eighth Circuit Court ruling that the school could only censor content in extreme circumstances. So the school took the case to the Supreme Court.
2:07 In 1988 the court ruled 5 to 3 that the principal did not violate students right to free speech. Justice Byron White wrote the majority opinion, arguing that a school newspaper was not a public forum and therefore did not have extensive First Amendment protections.
2:27 He also noted that because the school sponsored the newspaper, it could remove stories it thought were inappropriate. Justice William Brennan wrote the dissenting opinion, arguing that the “school officials did violate freedom of the press” and that “official censorship of student speech on the grounds that it addresses potentially sensitive topics is impermissible.”
2:52 And added “such unthinking contempt for individual rights is intolerable.” In the 1969 Tinker v Des Moines decision, the Supreme Court wrote that students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.
3:13 But the decision of Hazelwood v Kuhlmeier helped to further clarify the limits of some of those First Amendment rights at school. What do you think should be the boundaries of free speech in schools?
