Do students at a public college or university have First Amendment rights?
Emphatically, yes. As the United States Supreme Court said back in 1969, “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional right to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” As agents of the government, public school officials are prohibited by the First Amendment from censoring most student speech. Students at a public school have the right to voice their opinions and write about the issues that concern them just like every other American. Q: But if school officials or student governments fund a student publication, radio or television station, can’t they censor it like any other publisher or owner could? A: Not at a public school. The courts have ruled that if a school creates a student news or information medium and allows students to serve as editors, the First Amendment drastically limits the school’s ability to censor. Among the censoring actions the courts have prohibited are confiscating copies of publications, requiring prior r
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