Ah - I have finally found the perfect organization to take the Zundelsite under its wings and swing the sword on behalf of Freedom of Speech. It is, of course, the ACLU.
Why do I say that? Because this outfit upholds the pristine and absolute principal of freedom of speech, regardless of the merits of that speech - as can be seen from the following examples:
ACLU of Missouri Sues School For Suspending Student Who Created Personal Website
The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri filed suit in federal court today against Woodland R-IV School District for violating sixteen-year- old Brandon Beussink's First Amendment right to free speech when it suspended him for creating a personal web page that criticized his school.
Last February, Brandon, then a junior at Woodland High School in Marble Hill, Missouri, created a home page with his sister one weekend on his family's home computer. Among other things, the web page poked fun at the high school's official Web Site and criticized how teachers and administrators treated students. It encouraged visitors to e-mail school administrators and complain about the quality of the school's Web site. Marble Hill is a small town located about 30 miles west of Cape Girardeau.
School administrators responded to Brandon's comments with a lesson in censorship. They suspended him for ten days, and then failed him for the entire semester because of those absences. Now, as the rest of his class prepares to graduate next spring, Brandon must re-earn all his credits from last semester, even though he completed all his classes and passed all his finals - all because he spoke out about problems at his school. He received no notice, and administrators denied his request to appeal the punishment, even though he removed the Web site the same day school administrators complained.
"I think that the school should practice what it teaches," said Beussink. "We study history and we study the Constitution, but the school doesn't seem to think that it applies to them."
"The law is clear that schools cannot interfere with what students say on their own time outside of school," said Deborah Jacobs, Executive Director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri. "This includes the Internet. Brandon's comments on the Internet are protected just as they would be had he made them in an underground newspaper, at the park, on a street corner or at the mall."
"Observing and making comments about how government functions is what free speech is all about," she added. "Students should be encouraged to express themselves in this manner so that they grow into thoughtful, contributing adult citizens."
Today's case is just one of many the ACLU has handled nationwide challenging discipline that resulted from students expressing their thoughts on the Internet. Earlier this year, an Ohio student was awarded $30,000 after his school district suspended him for posting a Web site that insulted his band teacher.
The ACLU's lawsuit seeks to have the suspension removed from Brandon's record, restore his status as a senior, and to let him make up the work he missed.
Now I say it is a rotten deal to be suspended first - and then be flunked for having been suspended. Aside from that, this lawsuit surely gives us hope.
The only thing I eye with great suspicion is the $30,000 awarded to a student - for ***insulting*** his band teacher. There is a lesson here for grownups - and for kids.
Ingrid
Thought for the Day:
"And the fruits will outdo what the flowers have promised."
(Francois de Malherbe)