History of Journalism: How Do Students’ Rights Differ From Those of the Press? By Amy and Suzan

The Hazelwood Case The final edition of Hazelwood East High School’s newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri had just been written by the Journalism II class. Before the publication of the last edition before summer break, the paper was given to the principal, Robert Reynolds, to be reviewed. There were two articles in the paper that concerned Reynolds; one about teen pregnancy, and one about divorce.

Hazelwood Case Continued Principal Reynolds disapproved of the two articles because he thought they included personal information about some students that, although their names weren’t in the stories, would identify them. He wanted to “protect the privacy” of the students at his school. He wanted the stories to be re-written or revised, but didn’t want the time it takes to do so cause the students to miss the deadline for the last edition of their newspaper, The Spectrum.

More About the Hazelwood Case Because of the quickly approaching deadline, Reynolds chose to simply have the two controversial articles removed from the story. Other school officials backed the principal, but students did not agree with the censorship at all. They felt it was a “direct violation of their First Amendment rights” to write whatever they want in their newspaper. The students went to court with their case, but the judges sided with Reynolds.First Amendment rights

The First Amendment Rights Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. — The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Hazelwood Case The first court the case went to felt that if the school had a good reason, they could “place limits on curricular activities, such as the publication of the school newspaper”. Hazelwood East students then brought their case to the Court of Appeals, which overruled the first court ruling, saying that the students’ rights were, in fact, violated.

Hazelwood Case After this, the school then carried the case on to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decided that students don’t “shed their constitutional rights...at the schoolhouse gate”, and ruled in their favor.

Further Research ¤Go here to find the answers to the top ten questions most frequently asked by High School students about their rights.here