If you're a student in Indiana and a school administrator doesn't approve it, you can't say it. That's the message the school board at Woodlan Junior-Senior High School in Allen County has sent to Amy Sorrell, a teacher and newspaper adviser. Sorrell could be fired for allowing students to publish an editorial advocating tolerance toward homosexuality.
Students, whether in high school or at the university level, should have the same rights as any other citizen when free speech is concerned. Administrators do not have the right to take away students' civil liberties based on what they perceive as questionable content.
The editorial that sparked controversy, which was written by sophomore Megan Chase, contained a relatively tame and valid call to action for students: tolerate others. Principal Ed Yoder and the school board have called for the firing of Sorrell as a result.
In the aftermath, Yoder has cited the editorial's inappropriateness for young students and the 1988 court case Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier as reasons for prior review.
In the Hazelwood decision, the Supreme Court ruled that high school "student expression could be censored where school officials demonstrated a reasonable educational justification and where their censorship was viewpoint neutral," according to a summary of the case. The case gives schools the power to censor publications, but it doesn't mean schools are required to use and enforce prior review policies.
In the case out of northern Indiana, Yoder shouldn't have opted for prior review based on an objection to content. Hazelwood only protects "viewpoint neutral" censorship, and Yoder's actions are anything but neutral.
Free speech is an issue that shouldn't be taken for granted, especially when it is speech advocating the noble idea of tolerance. Woodlan officials have made an intolerable response themselves and violated First Amendment rights at the same time.
Regardless of justification, the school and its administrators made all the wrong decisions. The situation could have been handled better by Yoder, and the school board shouldn't be backing up a principal that is obviously misusing his power.
Indiana is hailed as a conservative state, and situations like the Woodlan support it. The bright, young and open minds that could stay in Indiana after high school are less likely to do so when administrators blatantly take away civil liberties and aren't reprimanded for it.
The free speech rights of students, and citizens in general, shouldn't be taken away because the topic at hand makes the people in power cringe. The Daily News supports Sorrell and Chase in the unfortunate situation at hand, and we strongly disagree with the actions of the school district and administrators.
It's a sad day when the lesson of tolerance is taught by students, not teachers.
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