Education Law Commons^™

Academic Freedom And Professorial Speech In The Post-Garcetti World, Oren R. Griffin

Seattle University Law Review

Academic freedom, a coveted feature of higher education, is the concept that faculty should be free to perform their essential functions as professors and scholars without the threat of retaliation or undue administrative influence. The central mission of an academic institution, teach-ing and research, is well served by academic freedom that allows the faculty to conduct its work in the absence of censorship or coercion. In support of this proposition, courts have long held that academic freedom is a special concern of the First Amendment, granting professors and faculty members cherished protections regarding academic speech. In Garcetti v. Ceballos, the …

The Right Questions About School Choice: Education, Religious Freedom, And The Common Good, Richard W. Garnett

Richard W Garnett

No abstract provided.

Texas Cheerleaders And The First Amendment: Can You Cheer For God At A Football Game?, Brett A. Geier

Brett A Geier

The Kountze High School Cheerleaders in Kountze, Texas last year placed religious messages on run-through banners at the pre-game ceremonies for its football team. When district officials directed the cheerleaders to cease placing the messages on the banners, the cheerleaders sought relief under the Free Exercise Clause and free speech doctrine. In the spring of 2013, the District Court enjoined the school from preventing the cheerleaders from placing religious messages on the banners stating that the act did not violated the Establishment Clause. This particular case has multiple issues that must be addressed: First Amendment conflict; free speech fora, religious …

Overcoming Obstacles To Religious Exercise In K-12 Education, Lewis M. Wasserman

Lewis M. Wasserman

Overcoming Obstacles to Religious Exercise in K-12 Education LEWIS M. WASSERMAN Abstract Judicial decisions rendered during the last half-century have overwhelmingly favored educational agencies over claims by parents for religious accommodations to public education requirements, no matter what constitutional or statutory rights were pressed at the tribunal, or when the conflict arose. These claim failures are especially striking in the wake of the Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (“RFRAs”) passed by Congress in 1993 and, to date, by eighteen state legislatures thereafter, since the RFRAs were intended to (1) insulate religious adherents from injuries inflicted by the United States Supreme Court’s …

A Comprehensive Approach To Bridging The Gap Between Cyberbullying Rules And Regulations And The Protections Offered By The First Amendment For Off-Campus Student Speech, Vahagn Amirian

Vahagn Amirian

No abstract provided.

Overcoming Obstacles To Religious Exercise In K-12 Education, Lewis M. Wasserman

Lewis M. Wasserman

Overcoming Obstacles to Religious Exercise in K-12 Education Lewis M. Wasserman Abstract Judicial decisions rendered during the last half-century have overwhelmingly favored educational agencies over claims by parents for religious accommodations to public education requirements, no matter what constitutional or statutory rights were pressed at the tribunal, or when the conflict arose. These claim failures are especially striking in the wake of the Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (“RFRAs”) passed by Congress in 1993 and, to date, by eighteen state legislatures thereafter, since the RFRAs were intended to (1) insulate religious adherents from injuries inflicted by the United States Supreme Court’s …

Gay Talk: Protecting Free Speech For Public School Teachers, Stephen J. Elkind, Peter D. Kauffman

Stephen J Elkind

In Garcetti v. Ceballos, the Supreme Court held that public employees are not entitled to free speech when speaking “pursuant to their official duties.” In most situations, this strips teachers of First Amendment protection when they discuss controversial subjects, such as homosexuality, with their students. To ensure their classrooms are tolerant and accepting environments for homosexual and questioning youth, teachers need free speech protection against adverse employment action their schools might take. The Garcetti Court, acknowledging that “expression related to academic scholarship and classroom instruction implicates” unique constitutional concerns, explicitly left open whether its decision applied in the education …

Censorship Tsunami Spares College Media: To Protect Free Expression On Public Campuses, Lessons From The "College Hazelwood" Case, Richard J. Peltz-Steele

Richard J. Peltz-Steele

Since the advent of journalism schools in the college academy, student publications have taken their place as a vital component of campus life. As counterparts to the Fourth Estate in the society at large, college journalists act as watchdogs on student government, ensuring that student money is wisely spent and student justice equitably administered. As an outpost of the Fourth Estate, college journalism serves all the public by monitoring the administration of higher education. In September 1999, a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit threatened to radically distort the face of college journalism by rendering …

When The Classroom Is Not In The Schoolhouse: Applying Tinker To Student Speech At Online Schools, Brett T. Macintyre

Seattle University Law Review

Despite the overwhelming increase in students’ Internet use and the growing popularity of online public schools, the United States Supreme Court has never addressed how, or if, schools can discipline students for disruptive online speech without violating the students’ First Amendment rights. What the Supreme Court has addressed is how school administrators can constitutionally discipline students within traditional schools. In a landmark decision, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the Supreme Court announced the now famous principle that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Still, the Court …

Tactics, Strategies & Battles—Oh My!: Perseverance Of The Perpetual Problem Regarding Preaching To Public School Pupils & Why It Persists, Casey S. Mckay

Casey Scott McKay

After reviewing the history of the religious war on Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, my article, “Tactics, Strategies & Battles—Oh My!: Perseverance of the Perpetual Problem Regarding Preaching to Public School Pupils & Why it Persists,“ examines why such a seemingly well-settled issue survives and, to some extent, succeeds.

First, by exploiting common misconceptions among the American public, lawmakers are able to take advantage of ignorance driven by strong emotions. Next, religious special interests groups, with seemingly unlimited funds, thrust propaganda supported by worldwide media reinforcement on an already vulnerable American public. Thus, irresponsible state legislators, caught between a rock and …

Dancing Around Equality: Public Schools And Prejudice At The Prom, Jeffrey S. Thomas

Jeffrey S. Thomas

No abstract provided.

Banning Books In Public Schools: Board Of Education V. Pico, Kelly Bowers

Pepperdine Law Review

In Island Trees Union Free School District v. Pico five members of the Supreme Court, in three separate opinions, held that the first amendment places some constraints on a school board's power to remove books from its school libraries. Although the opinions were couched in terms of preventing censorship, the effect of this decision was to create a right guaranteeing students access to books approved by the federal judiciary.

The Constitutional Issues Surrounding The Science-Religion Conflict In Public Schools: The Anti-Evolution Controversy, Michael M. Greenburg

Pepperdine Law Review

Since the infamous Scopes trial the matter of the constitutional validity of the "anti-evolution" laws has plagued both legal scholars and school administrators. The courts have generally invalidated legislation which bans outright the teaching of evolution in public schools, but with the advent of the "balanced treatment" acts, a revival of this litigation has begun. The author examines the constitutional analysis utilized by the courts in dealing with the "anti-evolution" and "balanced treatment" acts and provides an historical perspective of the first amendment to question the Court's response to the issue.

Marsh V. Chambers: The Supreme Court Takes A New Look At The Establishment Clause, Diane L. Walker

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Testing The Social Media Waters - First Amendment Entanglement Beyond The Schoolhouse Gates, Lily M. Strumwasser

Lily M Strumwasser

Dear Editor:

I am a third-year student at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois, where I serve as the executive student publications editor of The John Marshall Law Review. In September 2013, I will work as an associate at Seyfarth Shaw in its labor and employment practice group. I am writing to submit my article, "Testing The Social Media Waters - First Amendment Entanglement Beyond The Schoolhouse Gates" My article considers the contours of student free speech rights within the context of public schools. I think and hope you will find it to be interesting and …

Blame It On Catholic Bishop: The Question Of Nlrb Jurisdiction Over Religious Colleges And Universities, Susan J. Stabile

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Keeping The “Free” In Teacher Speech Rights: Protecting Teachers And Their Use Of Social Media To Communicate With Students Beyond The Schoolhouse Gates, Mark Schroeder

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Debate is raging within many school districts around the country about public school teachers’ interactions with their students outside of school through social media sites, such as Facebook and MySpace.