In 1988 at Hazelwood East High School in St. Louis, Missouri, Cathy Kuhlmeier and two of her fellow members of The Spectrum, the school newspaper, decided to publish a piece about teen pregnancy and the impact of divorce on children. The principal of Hazelwood, however, decided to remove these articles from the publication without informing the students.

The students sued the school, taking the case to the District Court for Eastern Missouri, claiming that the principal violated their First Amendment right to freedom of speech. The court ruled that the school had the right to censor any piece written as part of the school curriculum, but the students were not satisfied with this decision.

They appealed the case to a higher court, which ruled in favor of the students. They determined that the newspaper was a “public forum” and was thus out of the school’s jurisdiction. The principal took the case even further to the Supreme Court, and they determined that because the newspaper is a school-sponsored organization, the administrators hold editorial power.

This case is important now because it determined that in public schools if a student’s article contains topics or messages that go against the school’s values, the school has the right to censor that piece.

This decision clarified some of the guidelines established by Tinker v. Des Moines, which established that students had freedom of expression. Instead, any public student expression that is endorsed by the school has the potential to be edited at the discretion of the school administration.

Click here for additional information on student press freedom in the state of Maryland

Sources:

Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier Podcast. United States Courts. https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/supreme-court-landmarks/hazelwood-v-kuhlmeier-podcast#:~:text=The%20Court%20reversed%20the%20appellate,authority%20to%20limit%20that%20speech. Accessed 18 February 2024.