Students suspended for Obama remarks

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.newswaverly.com/site/tab6.cfm?newsid=20195891&BRD=2712&PAG=461&dept_id=557008&rfi=6

Midlands News Service
11/15/2008
Updated 11/12/2008 02:00:59 PM EST

Two Papillion-La Vista South High students were suspended for inappropriate classroom remarks they made Nov. 5 regarding President-elect Barack Obama.

School district spokeswoman Annette Eyman said that two male junior students were suspended. She said she could not release specific details about the discipline.

Eyman said that a social studies class was having small-group discussions when the two students made remarks about Obama that were "racial and religious in nature that were inappropriate."

Either one or two students left the class, Eyman said, and contacted a member of the administration. The incident was investigated by administration staff who interviewed students in the class.

"I would assume that this is not the first time that this has happened," Eyman said. "But it is never tolerated."

In another incident after Tuesday's election, Bellevue police and the Secret Service were called to investigate a threatening text message sent from one Bellevue East High School student to another.


FULL story at link.

[frogmarch]

1. That sucks!

I'm going to send the link to my sons. One of them lives with his family in Papillion and the other lives in Bellevue, where one of his daughters attends East High School.

Fucking racists are everywhere. :mad:

[abumbyanyothername]

3. Bellevue Papillion LaVista

Are all big Air Force communities.

Unless things have changed in the last 15 years.

That said, and I am not sure what the students said in Social Studies, but the case has free speech implications. I would definitely hate to see precedent for not allowing students unhappy with an administration, or a political candidate to express that sentiment.

[nosillies]

5. Free speech in schools has always been touchy, with contradictory court rulings

Was the school's response "you're never allowed to say that," or was it "say it if you want, but there will be a price to pay if you do?"

What most kids, and many adults, don't seem to get is that free speech often comes with a catch. A kid can stand up and call his teacher an f'in c*#t all he wants, but damned if he won't pay a price for it. I'm free to go next door right now and tell my neighbor what I think about her punk kids, but I bet she'd cold cock me if I did. Not a price I'm willing to pay to exercise my right to free speech.

People need to realize that "freedom of speech" does not equal "I can say whatever I want and be free of consequence, ridicule or punishment for saying it."

[Joe Chi Minh]

6. Well spoken. Absolutely correct.

[abumbyanyothername]

8. Well in some ways I agree and in some ways, maybe not

freedom of speech does mean that you can say what you want and be free of governmental punishment for saying it.

I am not saying that the school needs to tolerate hate speech (necessarily -- although I don't really see the harm in allowing classroom discussions (as opposed to rallies, etc. where the mob aspects could escalate out of control) to allow reasonable latitude that includes some hate speech).

But I am not sure that a school should be allowed to expel a student for claiming that the president elect is a Muslim, any more than I would want the school to expel a student for saying that the president (43) is a war monger. Or perhaps a more appropos analogy, for saying the the president (43) is intelligent.

A disruptive personal attack on a teacher, even if verbal, can be dealt with in the name of maintaining an orderly classroom.

Your neighbor is a completely different situation. For one thing, she is not "state action."

[Omaha Steve]

4. Marta and I now live in Bellevue

I have a Chieftain Territory sign in my front yard. I follow the basketball team pretty well for a newbie in town. More so the girls team as know the coach (Scott Jensen) very well.

[rvablue]

2. Sooner or later these nut jobs are going to learn that threatening the life

of the President is a federal crime.

[lunatica]

7. Racist hate speech with violent undertones is not free speech

Or a free speech issue. It's actually considered the same thing as yelling 'fire' in a theatre and is prosecutable. I learned that in my US Government course in college. The issue is that speech that incites violence (fighting words) is not considered free speech.

[abumbyanyothername]

9. There are more nuances than that.

And, in some sense, we should consider not just what the rule is, but what it should be.

To help with this, perhaps you should consider the hypothetical as two students were suspended for calling George Bush a "Christian cracker." Or "Geo. Bush is a ruthless, cold-blooded, killer."

Some criticism of leaders, even if couched in offensive terms should be tolerated. In the case of leaders, maybe even more leeway should be granted than in the case of one student calling another the N word.