Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Student Expelled For Facebook Photo Description

Posted by kdawson on from the what-is-this-privacy-of-which-you-speak dept.

flutterecho writes "A sophomore at Valdosta State University was expelled after criticizing his university's plan to build two new parking garages with student fees. In a letter apparently slipped under his dorm room door, Ronald Zaccari, the university's president, wrote that he 'present[ed] a clear and present danger to this campus' and referred to an image on the student's Facebook page which contained a threatening description. 'As additional evidence of the threat posed by Barnes, the document referred to a link he posted to his Facebook profile whose accompanying graphic read: "Shoot it. Upload it. Get famous. Project Spotlight is searching for the next big thing. Are you it?" It doesn't mention that Project Spotlight was an online digital video contest and that "shoot" in that context meant "record."' In a post-Virginia Tech world, has university surveillance of online identities gone too far?"

38 of 415 comments (clear)

  1. VTech just kicked in, yo! by soupforare · · Score: 4, Informative

    The best part is that I'm sure he has absolutely no recourse because they're free to expel any student at any time per the handbook.

    --
    --- Do you believe in the day?
    1. Re:VTech just kicked in, yo! by argent · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Perhaps the court of public opinion can lend a hand.

    2. Re:VTech just kicked in, yo! by Xaositecte · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Nah, given the circumstances, he'd be able to file a lawsuit, and be taken seriously enough for the college to settle out of court. It should be pretty simple to factor in reinstatement to the college (or enough $$$ in damages that he'll be able to comfortably finish up at another college without taking out student loans).

    3. Re:VTech just kicked in, yo! by Mike89 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Sorry to comment jack, but this happened to me too. Well, similar - I wrote a blog showing my annoyance at the school, primarily for the pathetic toilet facilities (which cost like $180, 000 to upgrade, with no improvement..), and that the disabled parking spot was turned into a Principal's parking spot.. I was called in two days later, told to clear out my locker and not come back. This was a month and a half before my final exams - which I was told I could sit elsewhere. (This is in Australia, by the way).

    4. Re:VTech just kicked in, yo! by Sique · · Score: 5, Funny

      He should even get them for false advertising. They surely mention good English courses somewhere in their advertisement material, and they weren't even able to read "shoot it" correctly in the context of photography.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    5. Re:VTech just kicked in, yo! by moosesocks · · Score: 5, Informative

      Hate to point this out, but I don't think we're talking about another university here,... the fact that he referred to "Principal" and "locker" should indicate that he's talking about a high school. The rules do tend to be different between high school and college; for one, high school students are generally minors, having not reached the age of 18; most college students are adults, with full legal rights.


      Not quite. There's a bit of a language gap here, so bear with me:
      1) The sort of higher-education institution one attends between the ages of ~18 and ~21 is referred to as a "University" everywhere on the planet apart from the US, where a "College" is where one studies toward an undergraduate degree. Most US "Colleges" are also referred to as "Universities" because they also grant Post-Graduate degrees (also referred to as "graduate degrees" in the US, although you can easily see why this phrase is redundant and ambiguous).

      2) "College" in the UK most typically refers to a school attended between the ages of 16 and 18 to prepare/qualify students for study at a university, typically by taking A-Levels (similar to AP in the US, but a bit more sane). The UK's structure of what Americans refer to "High School" can be complicated, varies by geographic locale, although this term generally holds true. "Honors" programs at American High Schools that take place in the Junior/Senior years are somewhat comparable. Much of this terminology has crossed over into Australia, and many private 4-year "High Schools" call themselves colleges. Professional/vocational schools are also typically referred to as a "college," which is somewhat consistent with US usage.

      3) To add to the confusion, some smaller tertiary schools in Australia do call themselves colleges. This most likely arises from the original definition of the word "college" as "a group of colleagues". The US's beloved Electoral College is an example of this. Likewise, old large Universities in the UK such as Oxford, St Andrews, and Cambridge are subdivided into smaller "colleges". Much of the Ivy League has adopted a similar system in the hopes of appearing authentic.

      4) Generally speaking, the head of any educational institution in the UK is referred to as the "Principal", including both Universities, and primary and secondary schools. This term applies in virtually all of the Commonwealth countries (ie. all of the former British colonies apart from the US)

      5) Virtually all universities in the UK and Australia are publicly funded (as they should be!). They are not necessarily under direct governmental oversight, but would almost certainly be subject to large monetary penalties for such an egregious violation of the law.

      6) "Legal Adulthood" is not granted at the age of 18 around the world, as you would imply it is. It's not even defined at the age of 18 in the US, and falls under state jurisdiction. Although the age *is* 18 in Australia, England, and Wales, it's 16 in Scotland. In the US, various states have passed legislation to restrict the legal rights of its citizens by either raising the age to 19, 21, or making legal adulthood contingent upon graduating High School. This article on the subject should be enlightening.

      Hope that clears up any confusion floating around..... silly Americans for tweaking their language and measurement systems to make them incompatible with the rest of the English-speaking world.....

      Would you like chips with that?
      --
      -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
  2. Maybe, maybe not by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm guessing that the student handbook disclaimer of "expel at will" could be dented by good legal representation.

    Lawsuit waiting to happen. I hope they've got a healthy endowment.

    Like me.

    (I'm sorry, I had to add that last bit. Yes, it's Sunday morning, but it was low-hanging fruit... Like mine. OK, I'll quit now.)

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:Maybe, maybe not by The+Second+Horseman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's likely to be reversed. It's a state school, so they have an additional legal obligation to not violate free speech and due process rules. Even with a private school, if they don't follow their written judicial procedures to the letter, they'll often lose. Schools like to tell students and their parents not to retain lawyers during internal judicial / discipline proceedings, saying it makes the process "adversarial". They're trying to kick you out or impose some other sanction. It's hard to imagine it getting any more adversarial than that.

    2. Re:Maybe, maybe not by rjh · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's a state university. That means they're bound by the Constitution and cannot expel students without affording them due process.

      Had this been a private school, he would have had utterly no recourse: expulsion at will for any reason, even none at all, is one of the perks (if you're an administrator) of being at a private school.

  3. Streisand effect by saibot834 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ever heard of the Streisand effect?

    1. Re:Streisand effect by Naughty+Bob · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The Streisand effect is such a useful concept. I think there's a good chance that future generations will primarily know Babs herself via the eponymous linguistic device, rather than her artistic oeuvre. A kind of Metastreisand effect. Hooray.

      --
      "Be light, stinging, insolent and melancholy"
    2. Re:Streisand effect by Naughty+Bob · · Score: 5, Funny

      (In fact I believe only Robert Smith can prevent this....)

      --
      "Be light, stinging, insolent and melancholy"
  4. Public University by mwilliamson · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A public university is held to a different standard that a private institution in regards to being able to expel students for arbitrary and capricious reasons since public institutions are partially tax-funded. I wonder if the ACLU would like to step up to the plate on this one.

    I sure the hell wouldn't want to be in any way affiliated with such an oppressive institution. After he wins his case and gets his money back, he should consider an institution that upholds certain concepts like freedom of speech and independent thinking.

    1. Re:Public University by Wellspring · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The appropriate group would more likely be the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)-- and sure enough, looking at their site, they already have picked it up. But the ACLU might get interested, too. If you go through the site, you'll see other similar cases. Most are political, but a few are exactly the same: student criticizes university, university bullies student into submission with non-judicial processes.

      The next link down on the site is a good example. An student took some courses at a community college, and ended up with a shitty professor. When he dropped the class, he emailed his classmates and asked if any wanted to take the course with him at another school. So the college charged him with "hazing, disorderly conduct, breach of the peace, and failure to comply with directions of a college official". The first he heard of it was when he was notified that he'd been found guilty. When he tried to appeal, he found out that appeals are reviewed by the same staffer who makes the rulings in the first place. Later, when FIRE came to his defense and it became a national story, the college dropped the charges, then quietly reinstated them based on brand new accusations of disruptions in class-- charges much harder for him to defend himself against because then it's a he-said, she-said situation.

      Colleges do this kind of stuff all the time. Even their so-called "judicial" processes are designed to look good on paper but completely betray the principles they teach in class.

      Many years ago, I served with the student judicial committee in the university I was at at the time. They regularly practiced all kinds of shenanigans; their favorite trick was to have an administrator come in after we'd gone into deliberations to present new evidence that only we would know about and that the accused wasn't even aware of. I never said a word about it at the time because it just didn't occur to me how unfair the system was. Since then, I've become deeply ashamed at my lack of judgment. The student chairman, who played along with the administration's tactics as well, went on to become a researcher specializing in civil liberties.

      Sleep well....

    2. Re:Public University by six11 · · Score: 4, Informative

      From the parent:

      After he wins his case and gets his money back, he should consider an institution that upholds certain concepts like freedom of speech and independent thinking.

      It seems that Valdosta State does have an understanding of free speech, though.

      From the article:

      FIRE is simultaneously pressuring Valdosta State to reverse its "free speech area" policy, which is unusually rigid in restricting student expression to a single stage on the 168-acre campus, only between the hours of 12 and 1 p.m. and 5 and 6 p.m., with prior registration.

      Truly, an enlightened institution.

    3. Re:Public University by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 4, Insightful

      the ACLU doesn't usually pick up the kinds of cases that FIRE is interested in, because the cases often involve public academic institutions suppressing religious speech and conservative political speech.

      The ACLU often comes to the defense of religious expression and of conservative political speech.

      (Academic institutions in general tend to carry a liberal bias in their administration and faculty, which makes it more likely that conservatives will run afoul of such bias.)

      This idea of academic political bias is based on deliberately slanted "research", from the sort of priviledged conservatives who, for some bizarre reason, like to view themselves as a persecuted minority. (I suppose it has its roots in the sort of twisted, martyrdom-centered Christianity they tend to practice.)

      But even though most of the far right's whining about "liberal bias" in education is based on restricting their surveys of academics' party affiliations to the women's studies department, perhaps there is an inherent bias. After all, academic institutions tend to carry a bias toward knowledge, while the contemporary conservative movement continually allies itself with ignorance.

      --
      Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
      You cannot wash away blood with blood
  5. don't believe anything you read in online profiles by wikinerd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How do they know the students were not the victims of identity theft? A fellow student who hated them could very well set up fake Facebook accounts, fill them up with nasty photos, with the purpose of letting them to be discovered by the campus security. Even if a profile is owned by the students themselves, there is again no reason that a photo is not some kind of fake used for fun or just incorrect information as an inside joke between participants.

  6. Airport security by smaugy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Steadicam operator to airport security personnel:

    "We're here to shoot a pilot."

    Hilarity ensues.

    1. Re:Airport security by rizzo420 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      they're stretching... that's why.

      the second i read that i knew what it meant (considering it was called "project spotlight"). if a university president can't understand that it means take a picture with a camera, then he probably doesn't deserve his position to begin with.

      the president wanted to shut this kid up. gave the false notion that he would go to therapy and when approved be allowed back in. when the kid went through therapy with flying colors and didn't shut up about the parking garages, the president did a 180 and wouldn't allow the student back.

      what the kid should really be looking into is the school's counselor who violated their professional obligation to not share information about their clients except in extenuating circumstances (such as the client admitting to murder). however, fearing for his/her job when the president met with him/her, i'm sure he/she just crumbled under pressure and said whatever the president wanted to hear.

      --
      please me, have no regrets.
  7. Here's a threat by pdhenry · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, if you RTFA, one could infer that referring to the garage as the Zaccari Memorial Parking Garage could be construed as threatening to university president Zaccari. It's wasn't just the Project Spotlight link.

    1. Re:Here's a threat by spiritraveller · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well, if you RTFA, one could infer that referring to the garage as the Zaccari Memorial Parking Garage could be construed as threatening to university president Zaccari. It's wasn't just the Project Spotlight link. It could be. But it's more likely a reference to the fact that the University President was on his way to retire and was using funds from student fees to build the Parking Garage.

      After all, "Zaccari Memorial Parking Garage" has a certain ironic ring to it. As if the University President really thinks that in a hundred years, he will be remembered for a parking garage. It's the sort of thing that if I were a student there and immersed in this issue when seeing that sign, I would probably laugh and think "what a fool Zaccari is."

      When a communication has several plausible innocent meanings, it hardly presents the threat of a clear and present danger just because someone chose to take it out of context and give it the threatening meaning. Based on TFA, Zaccari pointed to a couple things from an online profile (one of which was a mere advertisement placed there by Facebook). Who among us could not be characterized in an unfair way similarly to the way this student was characterized?
  8. Shooting shootings as a pretext... by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 5, Interesting
    School shootings seem to be used as a pretext for schools to accomplish their non-academic goals these days. At my university, for example, the dining halls recently received several large, flat panel TV's each, which provide us with vital information about the price of food and upcoming "dining hall events" (food that isn't normally served but is just as bad). When I noted to a friend that this all seemed like a waste of electricity, especially since we have a coal-fired power plant right on campus, one of the dining hall supervisors overheard me and said, "Yeah, but these can also be used as an emergency communications system, ..." and went on to talk about how students need to be informed.

    It was easy to call bullshit, since we already had a system for that. More to the point, using people's fear of a lunatic going on a shooting rampage to justify ludicrous measures like my school's TV's or this George school expelling this student is a disgrace.

    --
    Palm trees and 8
  9. Fire the President by Detritus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The school's president should be dismissed with prejudice for his actions, especially trying to bully the school's counseling service into providing him with "evidence" that the student was dangerous. I'd also dump the spineless jerks on the Board of Trustees.

    --
    Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
  10. University Contact Information by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    President:
    president@valdosta.edu

    University Relations:
    jltanner@valdosta.edu

    Address:
    1500, N Patterson St. Valdosta, GA 31698

    Telephone
    +1 229-333-5800
    or 800-618-1878

    For your well reasoned & thought out responses.

    1. Re:University Contact Information by thbarnes · · Score: 5, Informative

      The University System of Georgia Board of Regents is meeting on Wednesday and Thursday. After backing out of a hearing procedure which they established to give an opportunity for due process, we filled a civil rights and discrimination lawsuit in Federal court.

      It may be more effective to contact the Board of Regents at this point.

      Office of the Chancellor
      Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia
      Suite 7025
      270 Washington Street, SW
      Atlanta, GA 30334
      office: (404) 656-2202
      fax: (404) 657-6979
      email: chancellor@usg.edu

      http://www.usg.edu/contact/
      http://www.usg.edu/regents/members/

      Join my Facebook group @ http://kennesaw.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6371166090

      The story about the lawsuit has been heard across Georgia. Newspapers from Valdosta, Augusta, and Athens are reporting on the case. It's been discussed on television, radio, and Internet blogs. Prominent education journal "Inside Higher Ed" featured it on their front page.

      http://mashable.com/2008/01/13/facebook-users-photo-led-to-expulsion-from-university/
      http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1664
      http://www.courthousenews.com/2008/01/10/Valdosta_State_Student_Says_Facebook_Opinion_Resulted_in_Expulsion_From_School.htm
      http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/011208/news_20080112030.shtml
      http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/local/local_story_011142725.html
      http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/8794.html
      http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/8796.html
      http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=7612384

  11. More fuel for the fire by Nazlfrag · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I stumbled across his treatment of free speech on his campus here, basically students have a tiny Free Speech zone where they can speak freely between 12 to 1 pm and 5 to 6 pm, as long as they give 48 hours notice and comply with onerous regulations about maintaining order and decorum. I get the feeling he doesn't quite grasp the whole first amendment thing.

  12. What's really interesting by Mike1024 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From the article:

    "Knowing that Barnes had availed himself of counseling services made available to all students by VSU, Zaccari secretly and repeatedly met with Barnes's counselor seeking to justify his decision to expel him," the lawsuit states. "What he learned from both the campus counseling center and from Barnes's private psychiatrist who was consulted in the matter, however, was that Barnes had never exhibited any violent tendencies


    University administrators looking at students' public facebook pages is perhaps a bit odd, but for administrators to have access to counselling records and private medical records seems like a far more important invasion of privacy to me.

    This case demonstrates why privacy of medical records is so important - you complain about a car park being built and a paper-pusher with an axe to grind accesses your medical records and paints you as a madman if you ever set foot in a psychologist's office.
    --
    "Goodness me, how unlike the FBI to abuse the trust of the American public." -- The Onion
    1. Re:What's really interesting by absurdist · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I went through a somewhat similar situation while working for an agency of the State of California. Morale was in the toilet due to management being exactly the kind of clueless, pompous buffoons that management so typically is. So they brought in a psychiatrist and set up mandatory meetings for every department. At the first meeting he made a very big show of assuring everyone that this was all confidential and he was bound by law and professional ethics not to divulge anything said in these sessions to anyone. When I brought up immediately that the state Supreme Court had recently ruled that, contrary to his assertions, whoever was PAYING for the service was considered to be the client, and therefore entitled to have the information divulged to them, and that his misleading statements really didn't reflect well on his professional ethics, he tried to deflect it in every possible way... WITHOUT actually denying it. The point was made, however. The sessions were abruptly ended about a month later when it became clear that no one was talking to him. The bottom line is that the Doctor - Patient relationship isn't nearly as sacrosanct as people make it out to be.

  13. Anyone missing the big picture? by whoda · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What about the rest of the students who weren't expelled and are being educated by these idiots? That's the real story.

  14. This kind of thing happens at lots of schools. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I am posting AC because last year this kind of thing happened at my university also. The president of the university was catching a lot of flak from students about putting nearly 50% of his budget towards the football team instead of academic programs or even other sports programs (in fact the other sports programs were so under-funded that they closed the pool and made the swimming team practice at the city public pool.) He got mad and the next thing you know a group of about 10 students were informed that they would not be able to attend classes next term because they had "failed to adapt to campus life." All of them had been vocal members of the groups opposing the president. Three of them were seniors due to graduate that year. All of the students were allowed to return after they threatened to play the lawsuit game. I think that the student from the article could probably do the same since the comment from the picture seems to have been taken totaly out of context.

  15. Privacy?? by EaglemanBSA · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Interesting story, but I think the question shouldn't be whether the University has the right to look at your profiles online....you're putting them in a public forum - one must assume that the information you present in said public forum is viewable by the public. I mean seriously, it's like having a loud conversation in an airport terminal and suing someone for overhearing your conversation.
     
    This is not a privacy issue, it's an issue of the university overreacting in a way that I'm sure would be inconsistent with their code of conduct. If it's not, then the student needs to bring suit and talk to his student union about policy changes.

    --
    Quiz: True or False -- On a scale of 1 to 10, what is your middle name?
  16. Well... by Corwn+of+Amber · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is not "online surveillance going too far". It's "Some universities employ complete morons who can't even read. This hazs serious consequenes, such as students expelled for non-reasons."

    Why is that news? Maybe sections with a counter in each, such as "$UNIVERSITY expels $STUDENT for reason $STUPID" would do it, with an index that links to each relevant article. Good idea for a web 2.0 news site, that.

    --
    Making laws based on opinions that stem up from false informations leads to witch hunts.
  17. What is the effect on others ? by Alain+Williams · · Score: 4, Insightful
    There has been a lot of comment about the effect on the student, what the university should have done, .... but just think what effect this will have on the other students who are looking at this fiasco. They will say to themselves: "Oh, shit - I had better not say anything that might not be liked by those who have power over me because I might be penalised!". This mindset is likely to last the rest of their lives.

    What this sort of thing does is to generate adults who keep their heads down and won't make negative comments no matter what the government, their employer, ... does. This means that the few who run the country/company/... can commit outrageous acts and get away with it because the population is too scared to complain.

    It is just this sort of mentality that lets the government get away with some of the huge restrictions of freedom that it is imposing.

    This sort of thinking is what kills democracy.

    I am talking about the USA here, but I am a Brit and can see this sort of thing will also happen here... where our government ignores us and the law anyway.

  18. Post-Virginia Tech world by Nimey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I move that whomever uses /that/ phrase be summarily shot.

    --
    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem
  19. Too far? by loraksus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Has university surveillance of online identities gone too far?

    Is it really relevant here? Someone in the school administration wanted to silence a single student who raised awareness about a project that was pissing away a significant amount of student money. So they went out, found a flimsy, bullshit excuse and ran with it.

    It isn't a matter of active and sustained surveillance of students - it's the matter of a administrator (or one of his minions) doing something stupid that will cost the school quite a few bucks in legal fees and the upcoming settlement in order to protect one of his pet projects.

    We all know politics in the real world has pork and corruption, but the academic world takes it a step further in some cases. When you factor in the effect of tenure, it can get ugly very quickly, especially if the tenured employees feel threatened.
    Quaint notions such as "the law" are ignored - primarily because even though their actions put the school at legal jeopardy, the actual employee really is unaffected.
    Besides, college students aren't really known for their ability to retain lawyers easily.

    I speak with some authority, since I was VP of student government and finance director PCC Sylvania. I've spent a few years in student government and suffice it to say, I've seen a few things.
    For a bit of background, PCC Sylvania is a campus w/ ~24,000 students. Roughly 86,000 students currently attend PCC's multiple campuses, making it one of the largest schools in terms of enrollment in the USA.
    Granted, PCC isn't a university, but from what I've seen, student fees are handled in more or less the same manner at any school.

    Student government didn't get all the student fees - a significant portion of the collected fees went to projects run by (factions in the) administration and only a few percent trickled down and could be spent by the elected student government.
    I'm not going to say it was all wasted, but I can completely understand how people can get pissed at how large portions (5-6 figures, year after year) of it were spent.

    What can you really expect? After all, you are talking about a funding source that is essentially guaranteed, with virtually no oversight and run / spent by tenured administrators / professors. You're going to have corruption, you're going to have abuses of power and this is really nothing new.

    The only thing different here is that it made the papers because even though this type of arbitrary expulsion isn't exactly new (it has been on the rise for the last few years - it's not a result of Virginia Tech), it still makes a fairly good story, especially with the "early departure".

    --
    1q2w3e4r5t6y7u8i9o0pqawsedrftgthyjukilo;p'azsxdcfv gbhnjmk,l.;/
  20. In a post-[Event X] world... by One+Childish+N00b · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In a post-[Event X] world, have needless appeals to emotion gone too far?

    A couple of days ago I posted a comment against the constant references to 9/11 being used to justify or explain things that have very little to do with preventing terrorism or other terrible event, and this is another example, and the shame this time is that it's a comment from a /. user - I thought we were supposed to be more informed and enlightened than knee-jerking idiots?

    In a post-Virginia Tech world, has university surveillance of online identities gone too far?"

    What has Virginia Tech got to do with university surveillance, ever? Seung-Hui Cho was well known on campus for being weird, handing in obviously violently disturbed plays for class assignments, and even writing a story about a school shooting which the university was aware of. Now I know that what one writes is not neccessarily a reflection of what one intends to do, but it's not like anyone needed to spy on Seung-Hui's Facebook page, if indeed he had one, to see that he had serious issues going on - his social problems were far more severe than some kid writing a comment about his teacher building a parking garage, and were being waved in the face of his tutors for more than a year before the horrendous act took place.

    --
    Dealing with lawyers would be a lot less tedious if they all looked like Casey Novak.
  21. Wrong by svunt · · Score: 4, Informative

    In Australia, the head of a university is never called a principal, generally they are 'Vice-Chancellor'. I'm Australian, and - 'principals' and 'lockers' - yep, that's a high schooler talking.

  22. Relevant Case Law by thbarnes · · Score: 5, Informative

    Relevant Case Law

    42 U.S.C. Section 1983
    Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress...
    http://www.peoples-law.org/individual-rts/civil-rights/1983_exactwords.htm

    Dwyer v. Oceanport School District
    School officials will pay a former student $117,500 to settle a lawsuit he filed claiming his First Amendment rights were violated after administrators punished him for material posted on his Web site.
    http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1126

    Beidler v. North Thurston Sch. Dist
    A superior court judge ruled in July that the North Thurston County School District violated the constitutional rights of a student who was suspended for ridiculing a school administrator on his personal Web site. In late January 1999, the school principal placed Beidler on "emergency expulsion." According to Beidler, the principal told him some teachers said they felt uncomfortable about having Beidler in their classes due to the content of his website. The principal also testified that he found the website "personally appalling" and "real inappropriate. On July 18, 2000, a Washington trial court judge granted summary judgment to Beidler on his First Amendment claims. The judge first noted that the First Amendment rights of public school students remain constant even in the age of the Internet. "Today the first amendment protects student speech to the same extent as in 1979 or 1969, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided Tinker."
    http://www.splc.org/report_detail.asp?id=448&edition=4

    Flaherty v. Keystone Oaks Sch. District
    A local school district has agreed to pay $60,000 in partial settlement of lawsuit brought by a former student who was kicked off the volleyball team because he posted an Internet message criticizing an art teacher, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania announced today.
    http://www.aclu.org/privacy/speech/15185prs20021118.html

    O'Brien v. Westlake City Schools Board of Education
    Sean O'Brien, while a sixteen-year-old junior at Westlake High School, created a website in March 1998 that lampooned his band teacher Raymond Walczuk. His web page "raymondsucks.org" contained several unflattering comments about Walczuk. School officials settled with O'Brien by agreeing to pay him $30,000, expunging the suspension from his record and writing a letter of apology
    http://www.freedomforum.org/packages/first/censorshipinternetspeech/part3.htm

    Beussink v. Woodland R-IV School District
    Brandon Beussink, then a junior at Woodland High School, created his own homepage on his own computer at his own home. The homepage was "highly critical" of the school administration and included vulgar language in his opinions of teachers and the principal. The principal initially suspended Beussink for five days because he was offended by the content on the site, and he later extended the suspension to ten days. "Disliking or being upset by the content of a student's speech is not an acceptable justification for limiting student speech under Tinker," the judge wrote.
    http://www.freedomforum.org/packages/first/censorshipinternetspeech/part3.htm

    Mahaffey v. Aldrich
    An unpublished decis