Banner case heading to court
ACLU to help JDHS student who says he's fighting for free speech
Monday, April 8, 2002
By ANDREW KRUEGER
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE ©2002
Joseph Frederick, the Juneau-Douglas High School senior suspended in January for displaying a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" during the Olympic Torch Relay, is taking his case to court with the support of the Alaska Civil Liberties Union.
Frederick and AkCLU Executive Director Jennifer Rudinger announced Saturday their plans to file suit against the school district - likely in federal court - to have the banner suspension expunged from Frederick's student record.
"The only place left to go is to court. We can't believe we have to go to court over this," Rudinger told a crowd gathered Saturday evening at the Silverbow to watch the movie "The People vs. Larry Flynt," which recounts a famous Supreme Court case dealing with free speech.
"We're working diligently on it and hope to have something filed in the next few weeks," Juneau attorney Doug Mertz, who is representing Frederick, said this morning.
School district officials said today that they had not been notified of any potential legal action. Superintendent Gary Bader was out of town.
Frederick was suspended for 10 days after displaying the banner Jan. 24 on Glacier Avenue across from the high school. He lost two subsequent appeals, first to Bader in February and then to the full school board last month.
Mertz said the case is important not only for Frederick individually, but also to address a broader issue.
"It is important to press forward for two reasons," Mertz said. "One, Joseph Frederick had his constitutional rights violated for no good reason; and two, beyond Joseph, it really is important to let the school administration know that the U.S. Constitution still applies to high school students."
Rudinger said the case likely will be filed in federal court because of its wider jurisdiction. The ACLU will cover all legal costs for the case.
During Frederick's appeals, Bader upheld the suspension on grounds that watching the torch relay was a school-sanctioned event - even for students standing across the street from the high school; that the word "Bong Hits" referred to marijuana use and "undermined the school's mission"; and that Frederick defied school administrators after they requested he take the banner down and come to the school office.
Frederick and Mertz argued the banner was not displayed on school grounds, that watching the torch pass by was not a school-sanctioned event and that the wording of the banner was meaningless. Frederick also disputed the claims of defiant behavior.
The school board unanimously upheld the suspension for the reasons stated by Bader. Frederick said he felt the process was biased against him.
"I don't feel like they even gave us a fair chance," he said. "They had to give us a hearing, but they didn't take it seriously."
Rudinger said the case is an example of continued rights violations against students in the wake of stricter school disciplinary policies.
"This has been going on since April of 1999, since Columbine," Rudinger said. "There have been zero tolerance policies that generally equal zero common sense.
"We've said all along, 'just get the kid's record clean, he's trying to get into college.' ... We think this kid has a good case, this is a good kid and these issues need to be addressed."
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