'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' case limits student rights

[Eusis]

CNN link.

[Dave]

I...don't know what the fuck to say. This is retarded on so many levels.

[Sensei Phoenix]

I'd heard about this story months ago when it was first going to trial. As an educator, I support what the principal did. The kid wasn't making a statement, he was just being a troublemaker and being disrespectful to others. Interesting technicality they got him on, though, not sure what I think about that, really.

[Prime Mover]

Gotta love people from my state...

Although this doesn't really limit students rights in the way it was originally feared, might. The supreme courts ruling has nothing to do with how students can act while off school grounds, but simply ruled that the place where the kind was standing, which was directly across from the school, could be considered sanctioned by the school.

Now, this does POSSIBLY have an effect on protesting near school grounds, but formal protesting falls under a completely different set of rules, which is much more heavilly protected by our constitution.

[Ryos]

I agree with the O'Reilly take on the story, in that basically just because it wasn't directly on the property doesn't mean it wasn't being disruptive to the kids at the school.  Freedom of speech per se only goes so far.  I mean, I could go across the street from my college campus and take off all my clothes to protest whatever stupid idea and still expect to see my "free speech" curtailed because that's just not proper.

[Prime Mover]

Actually, we used to have that all the time at college, well... both the public nudity and the protesting directly off of school grounds (usually not together, though). See, I went to Oberlin, which is known for being a fairly liberal-minded school. So, we'd get all these right-wing religious nutjobs (Fred Phelps came one time), preaching Sodum & Gamorah style bullshit. They were allowed to do so, but they couldn't be on school property, they were directly across the street though.

It was kind of funny, though, some of our drama students would always run out in suits and ties, with a big book... then they would stand beside them, and learn how to mimick their behavior, as a theatre study, and the preachers would just have to ignore them. Also, the political science and history majors would give their debate skills a shot. It was kind of a learning experience for everyone. The fact is, anytime one of those preachers came to town, it was like a big party.