A lot of people seem to have a problem with the dress code. But not many people know that there was a Supreme Court hearing on dress code concerning free speech.

In Tinker vs. Des Moines (1969) Mary Beth Tinker along with other students wore black armbands to oppose U.S foreign policy. At the time, the U.S was involved in the Vietnam war which quickly became controversial. The school made it against the dress code to wear the black armbands. The students challenged the ban as a violation of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, agreed with the students and deemed the ban unconstitutional, saying that the school must prove that the conduct or speech “materially and substantially interferes with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school” to justify the ban.

Today, freedom of speech in schools is much more regulated, but just like the constitution itself, it still stands. Something that is protected at school is (appropriate) political attire. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says that, “punishing a student for wearing a particular t-shirt
or forcing a student not to wear a controversial t-shirt, could be flat-out censorship of an unpopular opinion which is something the law is clear that schools can never do. If school authorities claim that a message on a t-shirt will cause a disruption, their fear of disruption must be backed up by facts.”

If you do find yourself victim of “flat-out censorship of an unpopular opinion” the best thing to do is to comply. Obeying a rule doesn’t mean you agree with it. Another important thing to do is write down the facts, when, where, how, if anything like this has happened before and if so what happened.

The ACLU website cites an example of a student who wore a shirt saying “I’m gay and I’m proud.” The student was forced to remove the shirt, so the ACLUE represented the student. An important factor in winning that court case was that another student wore a shirt saying “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” but there was no school interference.

Also, the school needs to have facts proving that it’s disruptive. So for an example, if it’s before school starts, it’s hard for the school to say that it caused a disruption.

“Your rights matter because you never know when you’re going to need them.” – Edward Snowden