Office of Accreditation & Teacher Quality

Student Rights & Responsibilities

Freedom of Expression

Connected with the limited authority to regulate dress and grooming, courts have granted schools the right to restrict certain types of student expression.  As early as 1969, the United States Supreme Court in Tinker, 393 U.S. 503, confirmed that students have constitutionally protected rights with respect to freedom of speech or expression in the school setting.  Like other rights, however, this right is not unlimited.  The question involves disruption caused by the expression.  Wearing armbands or freedom buttons has been upheld.  When, however, a disturbance occurs, the board may reasonably limit free expression. 

The United States Supreme Court in Bethel v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675 (1986) and Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 108 S.Ct. 562 (1988), reinforced the rights of school administrators to provide for a positive school climate.  The Court, in those cases, has sent a clear signal that inappropriate individual expression that negatively influences others will not be constitutionally protected.  The high court has also given school authorities more discretion in monitoring school-sponsored journalism, plays, and other expression that is part of the curriculum. 

Under the First Amendment, an offensive or vulgar form of expression may be acceptable when an adult makes the comment as part of a political forum, but the same latitude is not required in school settings.  Schools have the right and responsibility to regulate the use of vulgar and offensive terms in public speech in the school setting. A school need not tolerate student speech that is inconsistent with its basic educational mission, even though the government could not censor similar speech outside the school.  Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 108 S.Ct. 562 (1988).