Volume 5, Number 3 (July-September, 2010)

This article updates my 2007 paper that discussed the First Amendment rights of students to publish controversial web sites and the related power of public schools to police this form of student expression.  The relevant cases decided over the past three years expand the discussion beyond student created web site to consider circumstances such as instant messaging icons and YouTube videos that depict the fantasy murder of teachers (Wisniewski v. Weedsport Central School District, 2007; O.Z. v. Long Beach Unified School District, 2008), a fake MySpace profile in which a “principal” implies that he’s a pedophiliac (J.S. v. Blue Mountain School District, 2010), and the removal of posters making reference to the web site of a conservative group (Bowler v. Town of Hudson, 2008). In addition, the United States  Supreme Court, while still not having ruled on the specific topic of students and the internet, issued a fourth landmark case in the area of the First Amendment speech rights of students.  This article again synthesizes the holdings of the relevant cases, points out issues about which the courts have disagreed, and provides updated guidance regarding how to determine whether student created web sites can be regulated by schools. FULL MANUSCRIPT AVAILABLE AT: http://cnx.org/content/m34809/latest/