How do school officials and the courts apply free-speech court standards?
Generally speaking, most courts have divided student speech into these three categories: I. Vulgar, lewd, obscene, and plainly offensive speech (Fraser standard)1 II. School-sponsored speech (Hazelwood standard) III. All other student speech (Tinker standard) 2 To help clarify how courts review the actions of students and school officials, let’s take an example involving the controversial symbol of the Confederate flag. If a student were disciplined for wearing a piece of Confederate flag clothing to school, a reviewing court would likely begin by applying the Tinker “substantial disruption” standard. Why? Because the speech is student initiated (not school sponsored) and is not lewd. Under Tinker, the court would have to determine whether the school officials could have reasonably forecasted a “substantial disruption” of the school environment, perhaps based on past incidents of racial tension, or if the school officials overreacted out of an “undifferentiated fear or apprehension.” S
