Where it Started

In November of 1968, three students in Des Moines, Iowa, John F. Tinker (15 years), Christopher Eckhardt (!6 years) and Mary Beth Tinker (13 years), decided to wear black armbands to school in order to protest the hostilities in Vietnam and express their support for a truce. The principal, after becoming aware of the students plans to wear black armbands to school, met with other school officials on December 14th and decided to enact a school policy stating that any student that wore a black armband to school would be asked to remove it. If any of the students declined, then they would be suspended from school until they complied with school rules (Tinker v Des Moines, 1969). Although both Tinker and Eckhardt were aware of the school's policy, they still proceeded to wear the black armbands to school. Once they arrived in school, the students were suspended and sent home and they did not return until after January 1st when the protest for the Vietnam War was over. 

This case was later taken to the United States District Court by John F. Tinker’s father claiming that his son’s First Amendment Right to freedom of speech had been violated when he was suspended from school for his form of peaceful protest. The district court initially upheld the suspension claiming that the school acted accordingly in order to prevent any possible disruptions from occurring. After many appeals, the case made its way to the Supreme Court. In 1969, the Supreme Court held that it is “unconstitutional to deny any form of expression. In this case the wearing of black armbands was seen as a type of symbolic act that is protected by the First Amendment” (Warren Court 1969).

Tinker v Des Moines Independent Community School District has become a landmark case, because it is the first case in which a student’s 1st Amendment Right was violated. This case is also important, because it has set a precedent when determining what constitutes a violation of a student’s 1st Amendment Right as well as when school administrators are allowed to punish students for their free speech. Although the Supreme Court in Tinker decided that school officials are not allowed to impose upon a student’s free speech unless it creates a "material or substantial disruption," with the rapid expansion of the digital age, it has become more and more difficult to determine what speech necessarily creates a "material or substantial disruption," especially when off-campus speeches that students express are able to impact the school environment electronically (Niemeyer, 2011).

Throughout the years, we have seen many cases involving students and whether or not their school did in fact violate their 1st Amendment Right or act accordingly in punishing those students for their free speech in order to create and promote a safe school environment: Bethel v Fraser, 1968; Boucher v School Board, 1998; D.J.M v Hannibal 2011; Doninger v Niehoff, 2011; Fenton v Stear 1976; Hazelwood v Kuhlmeier, 1988; J.S v Bethlehem Area School District, 2000; J.S Snyder v Blue Mountain, 2011; Lowery v Euverard, 2007; Thomas v Board of Education, 1979. The expansion of the digital age and social media has not only opened the flood gates of liability in courts, but it has become a wide topic of discussion among many politicians and school students (Stephen Wermiel, 2012; Ken Paulson, 2013).

Table of Contents for this Study

Introduction: This section is going to explain the origins of my research topic and how it first began.

Internet and Our Speech: This section is an overview of the research study that you are going to be reading about.

Journey into the Research: This section is going to focus on the questions I am going to be trying to answer during my study as well as how I went about choosing my information for this study.

Discover: This section is going to explain the findings of the research study that I have conducted.

Interpret: In this section, I am going to be analyzing all the information I have gathered for my research study.

Arrival: This section will conclude my research study.

Digital World and off-Campus Speech:  In this section, I show my entire research proposal.

Gallery: This final section displays photos throughout the process of my research study.