FORT LAUDERDALE, FL -- A local school board has agreed to rewrite school policy to give students greater protection under the First Amendment, after the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida's Broward Chapter stepped in to defend a student's right to wear an anti-Bush t-shirt.
"The proposed language is one step closer toward creating an environment in public schools where students won't be afraid to speak their minds for fear of offending others," said Zeina N. Salam, co-chair of the Broward County ACLU's Legal Panel and a cooperating attorney on the case.
The case arose in October 2004, when Justin Cambest, a senior at Nova High School in Broward County, was forced to remove his t-shirt with a picture of President Bush that reads "International Terrorist" after a few students and a school staff member claimed to be offended. School administrators gave Cambest an ultimatum: remove the t-shirt, turn it inside out or face suspension. The school's only justification was that the shirt was offensive, despite the fact that Cambest had worn the shirt dozens of times without incident. Administrators cited school policy that gave school officials the authority to ask any student to remove any article of clothing if "it is deemed offensive to others."
"I realized that they were taking away my rights and I knew that if I didn't stand up for my freedom of speech, it would just escalate and they would continue to get away with it," said Cambest, 18, whose teacher chastised him in front of his classmates for wearing the shirt.
Cambest reluctantly decided to turn the t-shirt inside out rather than face suspension. But he told school officials they were wrong to force him to do so because of an almost identical case in Michigan where a judge ruled in favor of a student who was prohibited from wearing the same t-shirt. In that case the ACLU of Michigan filed a successful lawsuit against the school system for violating the student's First Amendment rights.
In December 2004, at Cambest's request, the ACLU wrote a letter demanding that he be allowed to wear the shirt and that school administrators expunge the dress code violation. The letter also asked school officials to revamp their policy so that students have the right to wear clothing of their choice as long as it doesn't "create a substantial and material disruption of the school." The policy previously prohibited students from wearing clothing that could "distract or offend others."
"The courts have ruled time and time again that it is unconstitutional for school officials to censor a student's political speech simply because they disagree with those views," Salam said.
The school board agreed to allow Justin to wear the shirt and expunge the dress code violation from his school record. In addition, it later adopted the ACLU's recommendations and agreed to revise school policy to give students greater protection under the First Amendment.
In addition to Salam, ACLU of Florida cooperating attorney John J. Richardson represented Cambest.
The ACLU's letter to the school board is online at: http://www.aclufl.org/issues/free_speech/
BrowardSchoolsLetter121004.pdf.
The school board's response to the ACLU letter and the proposed changes to school policy are available online at: http://www.aclufl.org/issues/free_speech/
BrowardSchoolResponse020905.pdf.
