Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Dreyfus, Daniel B

Titel

A Common Judicial Standard for Student Speech Regulations

Ist Teil von

• Texas law review, 2024-04, Vol.102 (5), p.1059-1098

Ort / Verlag

Austin: University of Texas, Austin, School of Law Publications, Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2024

Quelle

Business Source Ultimate【Trial: -2024/12/31】【Remote access available】

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The First Amendment's applicability to student speech in public education is a heavily litigated and widely studied issue. Much of this legal action and commentary has centered on the Supreme Court's two major standards for reviewing student speech regulations-formulated successively in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District and Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier. The Court has never clarified exactly what educational institutions are covered by these standards, leaving their applicability to higher education disputed by academics and, to a lesser extent, lower courts. Additionally, Tinker is less deferential to school administrators than Hazelwood, creating a major tension in First Amendment law. This Note proposes a common standard applicable to all levels and forms of public education as an alternative to the separate Tinker and Hazelwood standards. Under this new standard, an educational institution may regulate student speech within a curricular context so long as those regulations are reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns. Outside a curricular context, student speech regulations are only permissible if the speech has or would likely materially and substantially disrupt pedagogical activities, prevent appropriate discipline, or interfere with the legal rights of others. In bringing the two standards together, this Note eliminates a major flaw with the Hazelwood standard-the "school-sponsored" requirement-and clarifies elements the Supreme Court previously left vague.