In 1969, the Supreme Court affirmed the rights of students to express their political opinions during school. The Tinker decision declared that students and teachers do not “shed their constitutional rights” at the “schoolhouse gate.” In 2024, the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Massachusetts school could ban a t-shirt that expressed a political opinion on gender identity. Do students still have the right to free speech?

This presentation considers the arguments used in Tinker for and against a student’s right to free speech. Not all the justices agreed with the Court’s ruling. We’ll then turn to the First Circuit’s ruling with an eye to school policy. If a t-shirt that says “There are only two genders” is allowed to be banned, can a school allow a shirt that says “All Christians are bigots”? Finally, we’ll consider what students need to know to responsibly use their right to free speech.

This program is supported by the Vermont Humanities Council