'Tinker' turns 40

Here's a story from Randy Swikle highlighting the 40th anniversary of a huge First Amendment ruling. School administrators need to be reminded of this case. Randy authorizes newspapers to use this story. That's him in the photo with Mary Beth Tinker.

By Randy Swikle

With a small strip of black cloth, Mary Beth Tinker, a 13-year-old junior high student, changed every public school in America.

It was 40 years ago — Feb. 24, 1969 — when she got the U.S. Supreme Court to say students have First Amendment rights in school. In a landmark ruling, Tinker v. Des Moines Board of Education, the court said, “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional right to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

Mary Beth’s offense was to wear a black armband to school on Dec. 16, 1965, to protest the Vietnam War. The principal of her Des Moines school got word of the planned protest and met with other administrators to quickly adopt a policy prohibiting students from wearing armbands. Mary Beth and two others were suspended when they refused to remove their armbands.

“Students may not be regarded as closed-circuit recipients of only that which the State chooses to communicate,” the Supreme Court ruled. “They may not be confined to the expression of those sentiments that are officially approved.”

The court set parameters for students and for school authorities: Student expression must not be libelous or obscene, not cause a clear and substantial disruption or not otherwise invade the rights of others. Principals may not censor speech simply to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint.

During the past 25 years, the Tinker decision has been modified by several new court cases but never reversed. With the goal of balancing pedagogical concerns with democratic education, the courts have defined instances when student freedoms can be curtailed further in order to protect the responsibility of school officials to implement the school mission and to act in loco parentis.

However, the Supreme Court has never backtracked in its assertion that students have First Amendment rights that must be respected in school.

Applying Tinker and more recent First Amendment decisions to student newspapers, the courts seem to be saying students do not have unbridled control of their publications, but neither do administrators have the power to arbitrarily censor the student press for reasons that are not educationally and democratically sound. School officials are expected to be viewpoint neutral in issues of censorship, intervening only when students have exceeded the limits of protected speech or have clearly contravened the school mission in a way that legally justifies censorship.

Controversial topics are fair game for student newspaper coverage, whether or not the paper is considered a public forum. Yet, some administrators favor maintaining “tranquil waters” over creating “waves” in the pool of ideas expressed at school. Such an attitude can demoralize students and interfere with the very purpose of education — enlightenment.

Sometimes, in ways contrary to the school mission, administrators yield to political pressures or try to hide personal vulnerabilities. Sometimes, in ways contrary to noble ethics, student journalists prioritize self-interests and use the power of the press to inflate their egos rather than to serve their readers.

Every partner of a school community should be vigilant in guarding the First Amendment and promoting awareness when the protection it offers is abused. School officials should use reason rather than clout in working with students to nurture a free and responsible student press. Student journalists should be empathetic to administrator concerns and weigh their perspectives as they hope to have their own considered.

The 1969 Tinker decision is an important lesson in American democracy. Mary Beth Tinker, just 13 years old, inspired change that gave young people a new appreciation of their rights as citizens. She spoke with a black armband.

Randy Swikle, a retired journalism teacher from Johnsburg High School, is Illinois director of the Journalism Education Assoc. He also is a board member of the Northern Illinois Newspaper Assoc. and of the Illinois Press Foundation.