Download Analogizing and Distinguishing Fact Patterns

Analogizing and Distinguishing
Fact Patterns
Distinguishing Hazelwood from Tinker
Tinker Facts: At a public school in Des Moines,
Iowa, students organized a silent protest against the
Vietnam War. Students planned to wear black
armbands to school to protest the fighting but the
principal found out and told the students they
would be suspended if they wore the armbands.
Despite the warning, students wore the armbands
and were suspended. During their suspension the
students' parents sued the school for violating their
children's right to free speech.
Hazelwood Facts
Spectrum was the school newspaper of Hazelwood
East High School. It was written and edited by the
Journalism II class, and the funds for its publication
came from the Board of Education and were
supplemented by sales of the paper. As part of an
established process, the teacher of the class
submitted page proofs of the paper to the principal
of the school for his review prior to publication.
The principal objected to two articles. One
described three Hazelwood students’ experiences
with pregnancy and another discussed the impact
of divorce on students at the school.
Hazelwood Facts
The Principal was concerned that the pregnant
students’ identities (not revealed in the article)
might be obvious to students at the school, and
that a student interviewed in the divorce article
had said some negative things about her father,
which her father had not been given a chance to
respond to. The Principal decided to cut the two
articles from the paper. Three student staff
members of the Spectrum brought suit against
the Hazelwood School District, the teacher, and
the Principal, claiming violation of their First
Distinguishing Tinker and Hazelwood
Hazelwood
Tinker
press—written newspaper articles
symbolic speech—armbands
informative articles—not protest
political speech—protest
school-published newspaper
independent student action
part of school curriculum with
established teacher and Principal
editorial control
not part of school curriculum
potentially adverse effect on specific
students and one parent
no adverse effect on any particular
individuals
newspaper sponsored by school, and
thus the views in it are implicitly
promoted by the school
speech merely tolerated, not
sponsored by school—just happened
to occur on school grounds
Analogizing Hazelwood and Tinker
Hazelwood
Tinker
Expressing a message that
conflicts with the school’s
position by publishing an article
in which pregnant girls discuss
pregnancy—and by inference
sexual activity-- does not
directly interfere with the
school’s expression of its own
message.
uncomfortable, unpleasant
subjects (= pregnancy,
premarital sex and divorce) do
not justify official suppression
Expressing a message that
conflicts with the school’s
position by passively sitting in
class wearing a symbol
protesting a government policy
does not directly interfere with
the school’s expression of its
own message.
uncomfortable, unpleasant
subject (= Vietnam War) does
not justify official suppression
of student speech in high