A good article appeared on this subject on Verdict (Justia) two days ago.
See"Can Public School Students Constitutionally Be Punished for Their Off-Campus
Comments on Social-Networking Sites or Blogs?" at
[http://verdict.justia.com/2011/08/17/can-public-school-students-constitutionally-be-punished-for-their-off-campus-comments-on-social-networking-sites-or-blogs/]
[http://verdict.justia.com/2011/08/17/can-public-school-students-constitutionally-be-punished-for-their-off-campus-comments-on-social-networking-sites-or-blogs/]
http://verdict.justia.com/2011/08/17/can-public-school-students-constitutionally-be-punished-for-their-off-campus-comments-on-social-networking-sites-or-blogs/
[http://verdict.justia.com/2011/08/17/can-public-school-students-constitutionally-be-punished-for-their-off-campus-comments-on-social-networking-sites-or-blogs/]
[http://verdict.justia.com/2011/08/17/can-public-school-students-constitutionally-be-punished-for-their-off-campus-comments-on-social-networking-sites-or-blogs/]
It brings back bad memories of Morse v. Frederick (2007). Such an anti-liberty
case.
Balancing again? Oh my the SC is too weighted in favor of government.
While I disagree with Jerry Buell's viewpoint, his comments (a) were made on his
own computer on his own time in the privacy of his home, (b) on a topic of
current public concern, (c) were brief and relatively mild (compared to hate
speech) and (d) not targeted at any specific person at Mount Dora High School --
leads me to come down squarely on the side of the teacher's right of free
speech. Long live Tinker.
Bob
On August 19, 2011 at 12:51 AM "Volokh, Eugene" <vol...@law.ucla.edu> wrote:
>
> I should note that the page now says he was “reassigned” while
> the school investigates the matter, though other press accounts report is as
> “suspended” (and my recollection is that the CNN page also said that when I
> posted about it, though I might be mistaken on that).
>
> Eugene
>
>
>
>
> From:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu
> [mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu]On Behalf OfVolokh, Eugene
> Sent:Thursday, August 18, 2011 4:56 PM
> To:Law & Religion issues for Law Academics
> Subject:Teacher suspended for anti-same-sex-marraige Facebook post
>
> Any thoughts on this?
>
> http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/18/florida.teacher.facebook/
>
> Lake County Schools Communications Officer Chris Patton said school officials
> received a complaint Tuesday about the content on Mount Dora High School
> teacher Jerry Buell's personal Facebook page .... CNN affiliate Central
> Florida News 13 reported that a status post on it said, "I'm watching the
> news, eating dinner, when the story about the New York okaying same sex unions
> came on and I almost threw up."
>
> Patton would not confirm the content of the post, but he said Lake County
> officials are taking the matter very seriously.
> "We began to review the code of ethics violations immediately and yesterday
> afternoon temporarily reassigned the teacher pending the outcome of the
> investigation," Patton told CNN Thursday....
>
> The newspaper said that in the same July 25 post, Buell said same-sex
> marriages were part of a "cesspool" and were a "sin." ...
>
> Buell, a teacher for more than 26 years [and a former “teacher of the year”],
> served as the Social Studies Department chair at Mount Dora and taught
> American history and government, according to the high school's website....
>
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