Introduction

Schools can and will adjust to the new challenges created by such students and the internet, but not at the expense of the First Amendment.¹

More than thirty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that "[i]t can hardly be argued that . . . students . . . shed their . . . rights to freedom of . . . expression at the schoolhouse gate."² In the year 2000, however, students seem to have lost their free-speech rights on the information superhighway.

In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that speech on the Internet deserves the highest level of First Amendment protection.³ Yet numerous students across the country have been suspended for content they created on the Internet even when they have not used school computers.⁴ Many public school officials seem to fear that the Internet is some dark force of evil that corrupts students.⁵

Students live in a time when the courts grant wide discretion to public school administrators to perform their educational duties. First Amendment advocates, however, worry about the lessons we teach young people when we deny them the protections of the Bill of Rights.⁶

The discretion granted school administrators has increased substantially in the wake of several high-profile school shootings, most particularly the tragedy at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.⁷ The Internet was blamed as part of the cause of the Columbine tragedy.⁸

The Internet Age provides unparalleled educational opportunities for young people. However, many in society view the Internet as an evil technology that will corrupt young minds. Federal and state legislators have responded with politically popular laws that require public schools to filter the Internet in schools and libraries in order to protect minors from harmful material.⁹

These three developments — the curtailment of student rights by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Columbine factor, and the fear of new technology — have combined to present a situation where students are punished for their online speech even if created off campus. Numerous kids are being punished for content public school administrators find offensive.¹⁰

This article seeks to examine the emerging case law of student Internet website speech created off campus. Student Internet speech cases present the courts with an opportunity to safeguard the protections of the First Amendment in the face of vanishing student rights and a fear of new technology.

Part I examines the U.S. Supreme Court case law on student First Amendment rights. The section also looks at how some lower courts have determined what standard should apply to student expressive conduct which takes place off campus.

Part II examines the history of the regulation of new technology, focusing primarily on regulation of the Internet. The section also addresses how restrictions on student rights have increased since Columbine.

Part III explores five cases of students punished for their off-campus Internet speech content.

Part IV offers factors that courts should consider in determining what standard to apply to off-campus Internet content.