No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws... |
| | Students do not lose their constitutional rights simply for being in school: their rights to free speech, assembly, press, and privacy are protected. These rights were first supported in the Tinker v. Des Moines decision, in which Justice Abe Fortas said, "School officials do not posess absolute authority over their students." Student civil liberties, though, carry a couple of exceptions: except for discrimination laws, which apply to all schools, only public schools are legally bound to protecting student civil liberties; and even public schools are allowed more leniency for upholding civil liberties in the interest of maintaining safe and learning-conducive environments. By retaining their civil liberties in school, however, students have the opportunity to learn as much about being diverse and responsible citizens in school as they learn about history and science inside the classroom. |
|
 |
Sunday, September 1, 2002 |
Maine Dress Codes Balance Learning and Expression
Maine school districts are instituting written dress codes to avoid class distraction in what this article calls a "sex-sells/MTV culture." The article highlights the fact that an established dress code is the fairest way to have a dress policy at a school, because it does not leave dress standards up to individual teachers' tastes. The Supreme Court has ruled that schools can set dress codes within reason, despite freedom of expression issues.
Louise Roback, MCLU executive director:
"'The school exists to educate kids,' she said. 'We don't quarrel with the finding that sexually revealing clothing can be disruptive. We're not going to battle over that.' A case could be made for wearing T-shirts with controversial messages on them, she said. 'Sometimes government and schools prohibit things because it's just embarrassing, that they're just a little uncomfortable,' she said. 'Schools are overreaching when they try to impose excessive conformity, like with uniforms,' she said. 'If they're just trying to keep up with the latest 16-year-old TV star, it's not really on our radar screen.'"
Nonetheless, students don't see the need, says Miranda Peters, a senior at Brunswick High School: "'They say it's a distraction to us, but it's really not a problem.'" [Portland Press Herald]
5:08:26 PM 
|
|
|
Wednesday, August 28, 2002 |
The Failures of Technological Security
This collection of articles from the Atlantic Monthly highlights the dangers of relying on technological solutions to America's post-9/11 security needs, especially those that invade our civil liberties. The articles all note in particular that there is valid tradeoff between liberty and security-- except that this technology does not provide real security.
"The trick is to remember that technology can't save you.... We know this in our own lives. We realize that there's no magic anti-burglary dust we can sprinkle on our cars to prevent them from being stolen. We know that car alarms don't offer much protection. The Club at best makes burglars steal the car next to you. For real safety we park on nice streets where people notice if somebody smashes the window. Or we park in garages, where somebody watches the car. In both cases people are the essential security element. You always build the system around people."
The danger to our civil liberty and livelihood is also pointed out in the context of biometric ID cards:
"For the purposes of a national ID card, identity is a unique, unchanging set of distinguishing characteristics: the flecks in one's iris, the ridges of one's left thumb.... As Americans, though, we have a higher identity: free agent, self-legislator, citizen. It's a common identity held individually. It's what allows us to bond and make a nation or, if necessary, dissolve our bonds. This identity can't be captured on a card, but there is a risk it could be supplanted by one."
These articles should be taken into consideration of the Deering High School ID Badges.
2:30:49 PM
|
|
American Library Association: The USA-Patriot Act
The American Library Association has posted a collection of information about the investigative provisions of the USA-Patriot Act. The collection is intended to be a guide for librarians, but is also very useful for library users interested in the impact on their privacy and due process rights. [From the Scout Report]
2:02:56 PM
|
|
Deering High Requires Photo Badges
Deering High School will be requiring students to wear photo badges at all times this upcoming school year. Although the school is seeking to protect students and improve security, the photo badges will not realistically protect the school from intruders. Students will also be losing the opportunity to learn about their rights to privacy and due process.
12:02:15 AM
|
|
|
Friday, August 23, 2002 |
Georgia School Board Requires Balance of Evolution and Bible
Although the evolution vs. "intelligent design" issue is in constant battle in public schools, in this case the proponents are only seeking to add disclaimers that students should approach evolution "critically." The Georgia chapter of the ACLU seeks to remove the disclaimers.
In a survey conducted by Lawrence Lerner of California State University in 2000, both Georgia and Maine were found to have seriously problematic education standards for evolution.
[New York Times: National]
4:19:43 PM
|
|
|
Tuesday, August 13, 2002 |
Princeton Admissions Dean Removed for Accessing Yale Admissions Info
Stephen LeMenager, the Princeton admissions dean who was caught gathering information about student applications through Yale's web site, was removed today. LeMenager claimed to be "testing Yale's website for vulnerabilities," he used the site to access information about students applying to both Yale and Princeton. Though LeMenager clearly behaved unethically, it seems obvious that Yale's admissions office was at least as unethical in their behavior of securing admissions information with only a birthday and social security information. This issue illustrates the problem with using the social security number as the de facto private password and user id: the more it is used as a unique id, the less secret it is and the more prone to abuse, as in this case. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: National]
7:16:43 PM
|
|
Welcome to the Students' Rights page.
12:30:12 PM
|
|
© Copyright 2002 Lucas Burke.
|
|
|
