Pennsylvania high schoolers suspended for 'hurtful' underground newspaper

By The Associated Press

03.12.01

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David Yates

PHILADELPHIA — Several high school honors students have been suspended for putting out an underground newspaper that school officials said contained "hurtful" comments about other students.

David Yates, principal of Council Rock High School in Bucks County, said he was concerned after seeing the newspaper, particularly in light of the violence that occurred among students last week in schools in Santee, Calif., and Williamsport.

Student-press advocates say that Yates may have violated the students' free-speech rights. None of the advocates, however, had seen the paper or the questioned items, which allegedly used insulting language.

Yates said his decision to suspend the publishers of the first issue of the Laundromat Liberator was an easy one. He said he believed that "if somebody feels they are not treated with respect and dignity, I think some sad things can happen."

Yates did not identify the student publishers or say how many were suspended. He also would not give details of the paper's allegedly aggravating contents or share a copy with the public or members of the school board.

He said the paper targeted three students in particular, describing them in ways that he called "hurtful, embarrassing and slanderous."

Yates said the newspaper was published by a group of seniors. District residents described those suspended as honors students at the school.

The paper was circulated late last week throughout the high school, he said. Yates then confiscated all the copies he could find and suspended the students for a period of time he would not specify. A suspension can last from one to 10 days, he said.

Chris Ayoub, Council Rock school board member, said that he had not seen the paper but that he trusted Yates' decisions. "If the administration decided to suspend the kids, [the paper] probably had a lot more than satire," he said.

Yates conceded that there might be some free-speech issues to contend with but said that his primary concern as principal was to protect the students.

"My philosophy is, I want to maintain an environment of kindness and caring," he said. "When I see something that hurts another, it's a situation I want to correct."

Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va., says federal law prohibits school administrators from censoring any student publication unless they can prove that its contents would "materially or substantially" disrupt school activities or would "invade" the rights of others, by slandering them or trampling on their privacy.

"The simple fact that something is deemed hurtful or unpleasant is not enough to justify censoring it," Goodman said. "If there is something that school officials believe is hurtful and unfair, they have every right to condemn it ... but not silence it."

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