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Blog Post #8

Institutional constraints are restrictions placed on an individual’s First Amendment rights by an institution. These restrictions are often put in place to maintain an environment that aligns with the goals of the institution. For example, a public funded university might put in place classroom policies that deter disruptions and foster respectful discussion. However – the applicability of the rules and policies involving constraints put in place by schools are being tested with the new emerging role of the Internet. In Klein v. Smith the Court decided that schools lack the authority to punish a student that does not occur on school grounds or during school hours. (Tedford & Herbeck, 2017) The judge stated that First Amendment rights should not be sacrificed in order to discipline unruly behavior. But yet we often hear stories, whether it is on the news or at our own school, of students at public learning institutions being reprimanded for social media posts.
A high school student from Michigan was suspended for three days for use of profanity on Twitter. Leonardo Semma tweeted “Sorry is not going to melt the snow grab a shovel and get your ass out here at 5:30 sharp boi” in a direct response to a tweet published by the superintendent regarding the district failing to plow snow. (Lynch, 2016) If the student had tweeted using school issued technology, while on school property, or during school hours then the use of profanity could be considered a violation of school policy. However I believe that the suspension of the student was unjustified and is a modern parallel to the Klein v. Smith case. Although the Sema’s profanity, like the middle finger, was directed at the superintendent the school cannot restrict his freedom of expression simply because it is considered inappropriate. Using a social media platform to swear at the superintendent a location that occurs off school grounds. Semma using the word “ass” in a tweet was no different than Klein’s use of the middle finger gesture. Semma’s use of the word did not infringe on any rights of the superintendent and also could not be considered a “fighting word”. Although Semma thought the suspension was funny in all actuality it was a direct violation of his rights.

Works Cited
Tedford, Thomas L., and Dale Herbeck. Freedom of Speech in the United States. Strata Publishing, Inc., 2017.
Alison Lynch. “Teen Gets Suspended From School for 'Use of Profanity', Has No Regrets.”Metro News, 8 June 2016, metro.co.uk/2016/06/08/teen-gets-suspended-from-school-for-use-of-profanity-has-no-regrets-5930454/.



Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 21, 2017 at 11:30 AM

    I think that it is interesting that schools get involve social media of their students. I think that it depends on your level of education and whether or not you are a representative of that college in some form that will allow you to misrepresent the school in some fashion. Only in those two events should you be punished for social media posts. I think that it is important that we also consider the privacy aspect if that should be considered when thinking about this. When it has nothing to do with the school but they are just trying to control student activities of campus is also something that shouldn't be allowed.

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