Hazelwood Vs Kukhlmeier Case Study

717 Words3 Pages

Khang An Nguyen
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988) Essay Stuyvesant’s very own biweekly newspaper, the Spectator, has been publishing a variety of articles since 1915. But is the content of the Spectator protected under the First Amendment? What if a student publishes an article that violates the privacy of certain students? While the First Amendment grants us freedom of speech and of the press, it is different for students in school. The 1988 case Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier found that schools had the right to censor student press if it interferes with the school’s education. Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier case was brought up when students in a Journalism II class at Hazelwood East High School published a final version of their school newspaper containing two articles …show more content…

Kuhlmeier is still very prominent in modern situations. Stuyvesant High School itself is home to a fair amount of press papers, with the major paper being the Stuyvesant Spectator. The Spectator itself had encountered a shutdown in 1998, where a student produced a spoof of the Spectator called "The Defectator," which poked fun at faculty members. This led to the Spectator being shut down due to faculty complaining about being bashed to the principal at the time, Mrs. Jinx Perullo. Ultimately, the Spector resumed production, but was given a written set of guidelines with the help of Columbia University’s School of Journalism. Personally, I disagree with why the paper was shut down over a few mean comments directed to those teachers (in an April Fools article nonetheless), but because “The Defectator” gave a distraction from learning (increased tension between students and teachers), Principal Perullo was allowed to act under in loco parentis and limit the freedom of press of the students. If students today write an article that interferes with Stuyvesant’s learning mission, then our current principal, Principal Contreras, has the given right to limit our freedom of press as

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