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it here.
-----Original Message-----
From: Volokh, Eugene
Sent: Fri 11/5/2004 1:05 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc:
Subject: Re: Pamphlets at School
(1) It seems to me that one of the jobs of high schools is to teach maturity
to students; and 15, an age where many students are having sex and some are committing
crimes, is probably a good age for students to learn that, even though there are a few
anti-Semitic vandals, one shouldn't be fearful of all Christians who want to convert
Jews. We certainly think that students shouldn't ascribe the crimes of a few blacks
to blacks generally, or the racism of some whites to whites generally.
Likewise, that there are some anti-Semitic thugs committing occasional crimes
shouldn't, I think, lead to a reduction of the rights of Christians who want to
convert Jews to Christianity. And to the extent that students connect the two, and
end up becoming afraid of proselytizing Christians generally because of the actions of
some vandals, we should teach them to resist the connection, rather than endorsing the
connection ourselves.
(2) I do not think that the rules on the street should be identical to those
in K-12 school. Tinker quite correctly concluded that schools ought to be free to
restrict speech that seems genuinely likely to materially disrupt the educational
process -- though, as Tinker itself held, that a few people are offended doesn't
itself equal the constitutionally required disruption. I'm not sure that the speech
here is disruptive enough under the Tinker standard (or at least no more than the
black armbands would be). But I'd be happier if the discussion focused on disruption,
rather than on supposed intimidation or supposed harassment, since it seems to me that
a focus on the latter terms would require stretching them quite substantially.
Eugene
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