We have been discussing a variety of stories lately that reflect the rapidly shrinking free speech rights of students, including a recent column. A story out of Wisconsin shows just how arbitrary administrators have become in stomping out students engaging in free speech and student press rights. Fond du Lac High School senior Tanvi Kumar showed precisely the type of courage and creativity that we want to instill in the young. While other kids were at the Mall and fighting over fashions, Kumar wrote an investigative piece that documents what was described as a “rape culture” at the school. The school officials immediately moved to censor and block the publication — joining a growing population of draconian administrators teaching students to yield to arbitrary authority. In this case, Fond du Lac High School Principal Jon Wiltzius was able to gut principles of free speech and free press in one overarching authoritarian gesture.
The controversy began with the February issue of Cardinal Columns that featured a story titled: “The Rape Joke.” It featured stories of three rape victims, but concealed their identities. Wiltzius halted publication and told the journalism class that they can only publish with his approval: “My job is to oversee the global impact of everything that occurs within our school and I have to ensure I am representing everyone and there was some questionable content.”
Superintendent Dr. James Sebert specifically took issue with a picture on the inside cover that shows a woman described as “laying lifeless” in the middle of cardboard boxes. On that page the editors explain the cover photo selection process and why they rejected that (laying lifeless) picture for the cover. The editors had rejected the photo for the cover and explained their editorial reasons for its placement in the publication. You can see the photo here.
Sebert also objected to a graphic description of the types of rape a student endured and a Pledge of Allegiance editorial that instructs students on their rights to not stand during the Pledge. The latter objection is particularly curious since student have a right not to participate in the pledge of allegiance.
Kumar and other students have objected to the censorship. Kumar noted that the truly disturbing content is exhibited by people at high school, including a student-run twitter account called “Ethan the Rapist,” that pokes fun at a very specific rape incident and rape in general. The piece was so well done that teachers had been reading the article to their classes as examples of excellence in journalism. Outsiders like Vince Filak, a professor of journalism at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh who has lectured at the school, said that he read the article searching for some inappropriate material and found none.
However, professional journalists and teachers matter little in this district. School Board President Elizabeth Hayes (right) said she objected to the headline “The Rape Joke” because people might not understand it. She felt that same objections to the article on the Pledge of Allegiance: “This publication is supported by taxpayer funds and it should be held to a high standard. And we should also be encouraging students to hold high standards of respect.” I am not sure that we should be teaching students to cater their articles to a level that Ms. Hayes will understand or find unobjectionable. To the contrary, these students appear to have acted in a far more mature and inspiring fashion than the adult administrators.
I recommend the article as a worthy read (here). This is a fine student publication and they should be proud of this product. Indeed, if Kumar wishes to use this forum for publication, we will be happy to publish the article.
The Supreme Court has led the erosion of student speech. In Hazelwood School District et al. v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988), the Court voted 5-3 that public school curricular student newspapers do not have the full protection of the first amendment and may be censored by school officials. That case also involved a taboo subject that made administrators uncomfortable. The Spectrum, a student newspaper at Hazelwood East High School in the Hazelwood School District in St. Louis County, Missouri was censured by principal Robert Eugene Reynolds who objected to a story concerning teen pregnancy. The ruling was rollback on the victory for free speech in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. The blow was delivered by Associate Justice Byron White who often sided with government power over civil liberties. He held that “[a] school need not tolerate student speech that is inconsistent with its basic educational mission, even though the government could not censor similar speech outside the school.”
It was (as usual) Associate Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. who spoke for free speech and student rights: “The young men and women of Hazelwood East expected a civics lesson, but not the one the Court teaches them today . . . Such unthinking contempt for individual rights is intolerable from any state official. It is particularly insidious from (a school principal) to whom the public entrusts the task of inculcating in its youth an appreciation for the cherished democratic liberties that our constitution guarantees.”
The Court has continued this attack on student rights. Such was the case in the Morse decision. Juneau-Douglas High School student Joseph Frederick was suspended by JDHS Principal Deb Morse in 2002 during the Olympic Torch Relay for holding up a 14-foot banner across from the high school that read “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.” The case ultimately led to the Supreme Court which ruled in Morse v. Frederick ruling in 2007 for the Board — a decision that I strongly disagreed with and one that has encouraged over-reaching by school officials into protected areas. For a copy of the Morse decision, click here.
At a time when many children are game-obsessed and disconnected, you have high school students here with the courage to look at a taboo subject and make it accessible for other students. The response of the school teaches an entirely different lesson about conformity and authority. Indeed, the board and administrators appear to want the students to write to the lowest common denominator on the least controversial subjects. That will certainly make their lives easier, but it does little to advance the true education and development of these students.
I understand the need to exercise some control over publications just as editors exercise such control outside of the school settings. Given the age of the writers and the readers, the level of control is necessarily enhanced. However, this strikes me as a content-based act of censorship that reflects the subject matter and not the manner of writing.
What do you think?
JT: “Given the age of the writers and the readers, the level of control is necessarily enhanced.”
Why? Don’t 16, 17, 18 year olds have opinions? Are their observations any less valid because of their age? Many years ago when I was in high school, we had the same problem. Seems like nothing has changed.
Shadowy Wisconsin Group That Helped Scott Walker Win His Recall Was Backed by the Koch Network
—By Andy Kroll
| Thu Jan. 9, 2014
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/01/koch-network-scott-walker-recall-election-wisconsin
Excerpt:
Days before Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker’s June 2012 recall election, two TV ads ran on stations statewide. Paid for by a group called the Coalition for American Values (CAV), the ads attacked the very notion of holding a recall election (even though it’s in the state constitution) and featured supposed Wisconsin citizens speaking out against the recall. “I didn’t vote for Scott Walker, but I’m definitely against the recall,” one man says. In another ad, the narrator says, “Recall isn’t the Wisconsin way…End the recall madness. Vote for Scott Walker June 5th.”
CAV put $400,000 behind those ads, which stoked a sense of unease about the recall among Wisconsin voters. Walker coasted to a seven-point victory. Exit polls strongly suggested that CAV’s ads played a part in the governor’s win. Yet the mystery surrounding the Coalition for American Values persisted. The group never disclosed how much it spent, how much it raised, or who funded it.
Until now. As first reported by the left-leaning Center for Media and Democracy, new tax filings reveal that the main source of CAV’s funding was the Center to Protect Patient Rights, an Arizona nonprofit that gave CAV $510,000 in 2012. CPPR is a linchpin in a network of nonprofit groups Charles and David Koch, the billionaire industrialists, use to shuffle money around the country while keeping donors anonymous. California’s Fair Political Practices Commission identified the group as “the key nonprofit in the Koch Brothers’ dark money network of nonprofit corporations,” and hit the group and a related nonprofit with a $1 million fine for failing to disclose donations made during the 2012 election season. All told, CPPR doled out $156 million in dark money in 2011 and 2012, a sizable chunk of the $407 million moved by the Kochs’ network of nonprofit groups.
http://www.policymic.com/articles/85111/this-image-shows-exactly-how-much-power-one-koch-brother-has
Koch dark money spending vs. Union spending.
nick spinelli
“Elaine, Walker won a STATEWIDE election, the Madison School Board elections are in the CITY of Madison.”
*****
It doesn’t matter whether it’s municipal, state, or national elections. You’re the one who brought up money being used to buy elections. It works both ways. You appear to disapprove of Democrats, liberals, unions spending money to help their preferred candidates win elections. Do you also disapprove of Republicans, conservatives, the Kochs spending money to help their preferred candidates to win elections?
Adding to Elaine’s question, how about sources for numbers?
USN420
“The money the Koch brothers spent on Scott Walker’s first election AND recall election would pale in comparison to the Union money contributed to his democrat opponents. ”
*****
Would you care to provide some specific numbers on that?
I think the article was very good but how about telling the other side of the story’s? You know, girls making accusations against males for their own reasons – everything from jealousy to popularity, or to get their own way….
Girls are treated as if they are innocent, they tease and flirt at an average age of around 12 when puberty kicks in. How many young boys and men have had their lives ruined by innocent lies? How many have been put into prison and found to be innocent years later?
Walker won twice, actually.
Elaine, Walker won a STATEWIDE election, the Madison School Board elections are in the CITY of Madison. You don’t know just how liberal provincial and racist Madison is, as do I.
Elaine M.
The money the Koch brothers spent on Scott Walker’s first election AND recall election would pale in comparison to the Union money contributed to his democrat opponents. Why is this Union money entering politics NEVER mentioned as being evil by those denigrating Citizens United?
Additionally, in the end it makes no difference whether the school principal is democrat or republican. It is most likely he is liberal and not conservative. Just going with the stats, of course.
Even then, it is of little consequence. With few exceptions, the educational system all over America has evolved into a systemic culture of forced diversity at any cost. There are speech codes and active censorship everywhere. It’s part of the system.
We’re missing the education on citizenship.
nick spinelli
“in Madison, if you don’t get the support of the union, you lose. Mary Burke was a RARE, exception, because she can match the union cash.”
*****
People can vote for whomever they choose to vote. Scott Walker won his election and re-election with help of outside money and support from folks like the Kochs and Americans for Prosperity.
*****
Reports shed light on how Koch brothers’ money flows to campaigns
STEVEN ELBOW
The Capital Times
11/13/13
http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/reports-shed-light-on-how-koch-brothers-money-flows-to/article_3fc32d79-f8fb-5c22-b5ee-78d4e4109afa.html
*****
Koch Brothers’ Americans For Prosperity Goes All Out in Wisconsin Recall–And Denies It!
The spokesperson for the Koch Brothers’ anti-union crusade claims their efforts are not on behalf of any candidate.
By Brendan Fischer
http://www.alternet.org/story/155624/koch_brothers%27_americans_for_prosperity_goes_all_out_in_wisconsin_recall–and_denies_it!
Dear Principal Wiltzius,
I just wanted to thank you for introducing me to one of the most relevant and well written newspaper articles I have read in a long time. I live 1500 miles from you. If not for your actions, I never would have heard of your school or this article.
Love and kisses,
Simms
in Madison, if you don’t get the support of the union, you lose. Mary Burke was a RARE, exception, because she can match the union cash. You would ABSOLUTELY LOVE Madison, Elaine. It is the liberal Mecca. And, the most racist city in the US, the dirty little secret. Liberals love minorities..in their place.
And Samantha, are you under the impression that the school board members are part of the union? I’m trying to understand what you are saying.
Samantha, with all due respect, that is ridiculous. Voter turn out here in Waukesha County is HUGE for major elections and for minor ones like school board members turn out is quite large. I guess you would be surprised.
In my grandchildren’s elementary school here in Waukesha County, the MOST conservative county in Wisconsin, the school board are conservatives, voted in by conservatives. When President Obama gave his Welcome Back to School speech, it was censored. It was NOT shown in the classrooms. Since when are Presidential speeches censored in public schools? Since authoritarian conservative school boards got the blessing of the conservative community to do so.
In most jurisdictions, the only people who come out to vote are police unions, fire unions, teachers unions, and other public-sector unions. No one else gives a damn, and if they did, there aren’t enough of them to out-vote unions. It’s why most people pay more in sales tax today than they do in federal or state income taxes.
No Samantha, I DO know that they are conservatives.
I wonder how the teachers union is able to own the school board when candidates are elected by the people.
annie,
“Suppressing unpleasant facts from kids this age is probably the bigger offense.”
My guess would be that the administration doesn’t want people in town to know about the school’s “rape culture.” That might call negative attention to him, his school, to what might be going on there–and might get people to ask questions regarding his knowledge/lack of knowledge of the problem..