The Five Freedoms Project

You Be The Judge

Test your knowledge of the Five Freedoms and see how you match up to the courts...and fellow citizens.

May 2010

Student Speech at Graduation

Two students were selected to give the invocation and valedictorian graduation speeches at their high school. The district had a policy of reviewing the speeches. During this review process, the school informed the students that their messages were too sectarian and proselytizing and had to be modified. When the students refused, they were denied the opportunity to speak at graduation. The students sued, seeking damages for denial of their First Amendment right of free speech.

Can a school bar a student from giving a religiously themed graduation speech?

Vote Now!

  • 34%
    A. YES
    A graduation ceremony is not an open speech forum but a government ceremony, and as such, the school has a responsibility to avoid Establishment Clause violations during its graduation ceremony.
  • 32%
    B. YES
    Students at public schools have no First Amendment rights. School is a place for children to be seen, not heard.
  • 34%
    C. NO

    Although schools may censor certain forms of student speech and dress, they may not censor a student for expressing his religious views in a public setting. The rights of school officials to limit student expression are not absolute.

  • Correct!

    In the 2000 case of Cole V. Oroville School District, a three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the close control the school exercised over every aspect of the ceremony gave the student speeches the implied endorsement of the school. Since the student messages bore the imprimatur of the school, the school had an obligation to make sure the messages would not violate the Establishment Clause. For these reasons, the court found that the graduation prayer was problematic irrelevant of its specific theological content.

  • Incorrect

    Although the First Amendment rights of public school students are limited, the U.S. Supreme Court has clearly indicated on multiple occasions that they retain certain rights, and that educators must demonstrate compelling reasons for curtailing the free speech of their students.

  • Incorrect

    Although the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment does protect the rights of students to express their religious viewpoints in a school setting, it does not give them absolute freedom to share those views at public school-sponsored events where the speech could be interpreted by some as bearing the imprimatur of the school.

Remember — US Supreme Court decisions outline "the law of the land." Lower court decisions do not. Sometimes, this means different lower courts will issue contradicting opinions.

DO YOU AGREE WITH THE COURT’S DECISION? WHY OR WHY NOT?

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