Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988)

Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988) - Students Rights

Kathy Kuhimeier and two other journalism students wrote articles on pregnancy and divorce for their school newspaper. Their teacher submitted page proofs to the principal for approval. The principal objected to the articles because he felt that the students described in the article on pregnancy, although not named, could be identified, and the father discussed in the article on divorce was not allowed to respond to the derogatory article. The principal also said that the language used was not appropriate for younger students. When the newspaper was printed, two pages containing the articles in question as well as four other articles approved by the principal were deleted.

The Supreme Court of the United States held that the Hazelwood School District did not violate the First Amendment right of the students. The Court ruled that School officials need not tolerate speech which is inconsistent with the school’s basic educational mission. The Court distinguished this case from the Tinker decision (school officials could not punish students for wearing armbands in protest of the Vietnam war “students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate”) because the Tinker case involved a student’s personal expression. This was, instead, a school newspaper, and as such could reasonably be perceived to bear the “imprimatur” of the school. They justified this because the publication of Spectrum was a part of the curriculum, i.e., it was in the curriculum guide as a part of the Journalism course, it was taught during school hours by a faculty member, the students received grades and academic credit, the faculty advisor exercised control over the publication, and the principal had to review it. The school’s policies did not reflect an intent to expand the students’ rights by converting a curricular newspaper into a public forum. The court further added that the principal’s fears were reasonable: he was concerned that the students’ identities could not be assured, that the privacy interests of boyfriends and parents were not adequately protected, and that parents mentioned in the divorce article were not given an opportunity to defend themselves.

Source: Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988) 

Additional Reading: Wikipedia Entry on Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988)

This blog assignment:  Summarize the basic idea of this case.  Do you agree or disagree with the arguments as well as the outcome of the case?  State whether or not freedom of the press extends into a school setting?  Obviously in this case it did not.  Should it?  Why?  Blog your comments about this case. 

DO NOT COMMENT ON MY BLOG – YOU MUST WRITE ABOUT THIS ON YOUR OWN BLOG

~ by andrewmolinari on January 16, 2008.