What can students post online about their principals?
A federal appeals court must decide whether a student has the to create a lewd myspace page about her principal. One one side, the student says she is doing this outside of class, but the district says it's reverberating inside school.
Should there be a line? Should schools have the right to discipline students for what they put online?
Should there be a line? Should schools have the right to discipline students for what they put online?
Labels: Myspace
posted by Dawn Keller at
2:12 PM
5 Comments:
i say if it's "reverberating" inside the school, then discipline the actions of those that are doing things against the rules inside the school.
to discipline her about the myspace page, is like trying to discipline a newspaper that writes an article, or a comic strip that depicts making fun of a school principal. just because she happens to be a student should have no bearing. so unless they have proof that she created, checks, or updates that page on school property, during school hours... i feel they don't have a leg to stand on.
it's freedom of speech baby.. love it, or stfu about it.
So if I took your picture, created a profile that said you enjoy doing muliple lewd acts and are available for 'dates' you would be okay with that? Or labeling you as a pedophile?
Don't think you would be proclaiming 'freedom of speech baby' so quickly.
The link mentioned a fake name and 'parody'. When you use their actual picture to create the site, that's where I think action could be taken.
As for 'on grounds' as opposed to 'off grounds', that should be more of the focus, and an interesting one at that.
If you wanted to parody me with my image... that's fine by me. Understand, though, that what I respond with will not be a tit-for-tat type of thing, but a conversation ending assault on the senses.
How many photoshopped pictures are there of George Bush screwing a goat or bin laden? How many pictures are there of obama with a hitler mustache?
Wanna go low-profile? Ok... how many parodies are there of "Star Wars Kid?"
Go to break.com or ebaumsworld.com and check out the hundreds of altered photographs of regular people...
What if it isn't done on myspace? What if they use some more obscure and niche social network? What if it isn't networked at all? Just a page in cyberspace saying "Mr. So-and-so is a d-bag"
You can't put a lid on this technology... circumventing the controls becomes part of the game...
It seems to me that the libel law would apply here just as it would apply anywhere.
But I am more curious about how schools handle it. I mean, what if it creates a disruption in school? Can schools do anything then? When it comes to freedom of speech in schools, courts seem to make decisions based on whether it's disrupting the educational process. So what if that disruption is caused by something that is libelous and takes place outside of school?
And what constitutes libel?
"Mr. Smith is a Sh**head"--- is clearly not intended to be taken literally.
Also, what constitutes "disrupting" the educational process?
Certainly, kids aren't overwhelming their teachers and projecting websites onto walls during class... I wonder if an authority figure's discomfort is considered a disruption?
Honestly, a pretty girl is more disruptive than a website that says Mrs. LaTourneau is a slut :-)
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