High schoolers write about sex, adults freak out

The administration of the Danbury, Texas [map] high school stopped the distribution of the school newspaper because it contained articles on sexuality topics. From the description in the Houston Chronicle, it sounds like the articles were written responsibly.

The decision, wrong or right, is constitutional. Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier is the 1998 case (decided almost exactly nine years ago today) that ruled that school districts have the right to censor student publications in public schools. (If you're tired of the MLK stuff today but want to feel virtuous, read the decision! You should know these landmark First Amendment cases.) The case turned on whether a high school newspaper is truly a "public forum" (the majority ruled that it isn't) and whether a public school has a responsiblity to promote -- by subsizing and distributing a publication -- rather than allow student expression (the majority ruled that it didn't).

In his dissent, Justice Brennan wrote:

In my view the principal broke more than just a promise. He violated the First Amendment's prohibitions against censorship of any student expression that neither disrupts classwork nor invades the rights of others, and against any censorship that is not narrowly tailored to serve its purpose. ... If mere incompatibility with the school's pedagogical message were a constitutionally sufficient justification for the suppression of student speech, school officials could censor each of the students or student organizations in the foregoing hypotheticals, converting our public schools into "enclaves of totalitarianism," that "strangle the free mind at its source." The First Amendment permits no such blanket censorship authority.