How Free Is the Student Press?

1. Set Focus
Pose this essential question: What does it mean for a press to be “free”? 

2. List Vocabulary
Share some of the challenging vocabulary words in the article (see below). Encourage students to use context to infer meanings as they read.

• accolades (p. 19)
• abridging (p. 19)
• redress (p. 19)
• grievances (p. 19)
• coextensive (p. 21)
• inculcate (p. 21)

3. Engage
Ask: Should a school newspaper have the same freedoms as a local or national newspaper? What might be special about a school newspaper that makes it different from other kinds of newspapers?

4. Read and Discuss
Ask students to read the Upfront article about the Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier court case. Review why the article is a secondary source. (It was written by someone who didn’t personally experience or witness the events.) Then pose these critical-thinking questions and ask students to cite text evidence when answering them:

• What led to the Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier court case? (The students at Hazelwood wanted to publish articles in the student newspaper that were more controversial than in the past. They included an article profiling pregnant students and an interview with a student about her parents’ divorce. The administration removed the articles from the newspaper, explaining that the content was too sensitive and was inappropriate. The students claimed that this was a violation of their First Amendment right to free speech.)

• What was the Tinker v. Des Moines case about? How is it related to the Hazelwood case? (The Tinker case was about students who were punished for wearing black arm bands to protest the Vietnam War. In Tinker, the Supreme Court sided with the students, saying that students were entitled to free speech at school as long as the speech was lawful and did not disrupt school activities. This became known as the “Tinker standard.” Until the Hazelwood case, it was thought that the “Tinker standard” also applied to student journalists.)

• What was the outcome of the Hazelwood case? What impact did it have on student journalists? (The court ruled in favor of the school district, saying that, if speech is part of a curriculum and is expressed using school resources, schools have a right to censor that speech. This had a negative impact on student journalists, whose stories could now be changed or removed by the school’s administration.)

• What is the goal of New Voices laws? What impact do they have on student journalism? (The goal of New Voices laws is to protect student journalists from censorship. In the 17 states that have New Voices laws, student journalists have legal recourse if they feel they are being censored. If a state does not have such a law, the student may be out of luck because the Hazelwood ruling gives administrators wide latitude.)

5. Use the Primary Sources
Project, distribute, or assign in Google Classroom the PDF ‘No Violation Occurred,’ which features an excerpt from the Supreme Court’s ruling on Hazelwood. Discuss what makes the excerpt a primary source. (It provides firsthand evidence concerning the topic.) Have students read the excerpts and answer the questions below (which appear on the PDF without answers).

• How would you describe the tone and purpose of this excerpt from the Court’s ruling? (The tone can be described as formal. The purpose is to explain the reasoning behind the Court’s decision to rule in favor of Hazelwood.)

• According to the ruling, how is the question raised by Hazelwood different than that of Tinker? (According to the ruling, the question raised in Tinker is whether a school is required to tolerate “a student’s personal expression that happens to occur on the school premises.” The Hazelwood case, however, is about whether a school should be required to allow students to promote their ideas freely using school resources and within the context of a school’s curriculum.)

• What reasons does the Court give for ruling in support of the Hazelwood School District? (The Court says that Hazelwood is within its rights to censor this kind of student speech because the school has control over its own curriculum, can decide how students should be educated and whether they’re mature enough for certain content, and that the school owns the resources that are being used to disseminate student opinions.) 

• Based on the Upfront article and the excerpt from the ruling, how was the Supreme Court’s decision different from the Tinker ruling and why? (The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the students in Tinker because, according to the Court, students’ first Amendment Rights to express their opinion are protected as long as they do not disrupt school operations. However, Hazelwood added the caveat that a school is not required to promote student expression that it does not agree with, and that, if student expression is related to curriculum or is expressed using school resources, the school is within its right to censor.)

• In the last paragraph, Justice White states that the censorship of school-sponsored student expression is acceptable if the censorship has a “valid educational purpose.” Do you agree with him? Why or why not? (Student answers may vary, but their opinions should be supported with reasons and text evidence. Students should discuss what constitutes a “valid educational purpose,” who gets to decide what it is, and whether that decision gives a school too much control over student expression.)

6. Writing Prompt
Does your state have a New Voices law? If so, research the law and explain how it was passed and how it works. If your state doesn’t have such a law, research the law of the closest state that has one in place.

7. Quiz
Use the quiz to assess comprehension.

8. Classroom Debate
Should school officials be allowed to censor the contents of student newspapers?

9. Evaluating Arguments
Have students listen to or read the transcripts of the oral arguments presented to the Supreme Court during Hazelwood at www.oyez.org/cases/1987/86-836. Have students evaluate each lawyer’s argument based on the clarity of its ideas and effectiveness of its presentation.