Bong Hits for Jesus

by Tommi Avicolli Mecca, Beyond Chron (reposted)

Thu, Mar 22, 2007 8:05AM

Every so often the right to free speech becomes a national issue here in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

It’s no wonder. Despite the hype, free speech is not a right people always feel all warm and fuzzy about. Sometimes it’s a downright royal pain in the butt. It means tolerating all sorts of ideas and opinions that we loathe. Just ask the ACLU. Or Juneau, Alaska high school principal Deborah Morse. She freaked big time when Joseph Frederick, a high school student, unfurled a 14-foot “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” banner as the Winter Olympics torch went by. Morse suspended Frederick. The student got himself a lawyer. Now the case is being heard before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The right of high school students to express themselves has been debated for decades. One of the most renowned cases was in 1969 when the highest court in the land decided that young people could wear black arm bands to show their opposition to the Vietnam War. The court ruled that students don’t “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” However, it left the door open for schools to restrict speech that was “disruptive.”

Many feel “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” is disruptive because it contains an obvious pro-drug message at a time when schools are trying hard to keep students from getting high. “Bong” of course refers to an apparatus used to smoke grass. But free speech proponents, including religious groups who fear that schools could restrict pro-Jesus messages, argue that the student’s expression was well within the definition of free speech.

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http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=4325#more

§Supreme Court Should Go Back to School

by New American Media (reposted)

Thu, Mar 22, 2007 8:06AM

The Supreme Court is reviewing the case of Morse v. Frederick this week, popularly known as “Bong Hits 4 Jesus,” and their decision will have serious implications for freedom of expression in high schools across the country. It’s loading a cannon to give administrators more discretion in shutting down free expression, argues Donal Brown, New America Media reporter. Brown advised a student newspaper, the Redwood Bark, for over 20 years.
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San Francisco - Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer should spend some time in a public school. That might equip him to make a more intelligent decision in the case argued before the court this week, pitting a principal against a student suspended for unveiling a 14-foot banner reading “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” as the 2002 Olympic torch was carried through the streets of Juneau, Alaska.

In trying to sum up the choice for the Supreme Court, Breyer said that if the court rules for the student, there would be students across the country testing authority in disruptive ways and if it rules for the principal, school administrators could use the decision to curtail free speech.

The student, Joseph Frederick, claimed the banner was only intended to put him on TV. That it did. But foolish, distasteful acts have a way of becoming a focus of landmark cases and such is the case with Morse v. Frederick. The principal, Deborah Morse, was incensed by the outrageous nature of Frederick’s message and ultimately suspended him for 10 days when he wouldn’t finger his accomplices.

Some commentators have criticized Morse for turning Frederick into a poster boy for freedom of speech when he was only interested in bringing attention to himself. That aside, the principal lost an opportunity to educate Frederick and his peers in the importance of free speech and, along with it, responsibilities in using restraint and good taste in a public forum.

It is too often the tendency of principals to think first of mollifying the adult community and giving little thought to the opportunity to educate students. Ensuing court cases can provide education, but it is also important to devote class time to discuss vital issues at the time they arise. In too many instances, the punishment becomes the focus rather than principles and values.

Once, at the high school where I taught journalism, a male student on the school’s Model United Nations team wore a dress to an awards ceremony. He was punished by the administration, but reporters with the student newspaper that I advised could not get the vice principal to explain why he thought it was wrong to wear the dress. How can students learn to be functioning adults unless adults explain their values and expectations?

From my 35 years in California’s public schools and teaching about free speech and free press, it is my opinion that there is little chance of students unleashing a barrage of senseless free speech pranks. But there is a real danger of principals using the case to curtail student expression.

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http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=59ad22c8c69da6076987cefb7522731e

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