Posts Tagged ‘ freedom of speech ’

The Kid’s Alright: #FreePatBrown if you Believe in Freedom of Speech

May 29th, 2013. By AbiK

This kid’s onto something. Unfortunately, he’s also out of something: school. He was apparently suspended for exercising his First Amendment rights. Here’s the story…

Pat Brown is young. He’s engaged. No, not as in heading to the altar—he’s socially aware and he’s participating in the dialog about his local school board budget. That would be the Cicero-North Syracuse (CNS) High School 2013-2014 budget, which hasn’t yet passed—it was rejected by voters last week.

Pat Brown, student at CNS High, is a concerned student; and he should be—according to a report at CNN, the CNS school board had warned that if the budget isn’t passed, cuts would be necessary—to things like athletic programs, extra-curricular activities and even the elimination of some teacher positions. Things that create and support a robust learning environment for students.

Pat Brown is just a kid—he’s 18, but for all intents and purposes, he’s a high school kid. But he employed the one thing—most likely the only thing—that he could to make his voice, and the voice of his fellow students, heard: he created #shitCNSshouldcut. Humorous, in a shitmydadsays kind of way? Yes. A welcome mat for a wide range of both constructive and negative suggestions? Absolutely. But he achieved the most important thing—he got the conversation going and undoubtedly helped raise awareness among the budget’s main constituency, the student body of CNS High.

But the story doesn’t end there. Sure there were tweets using the hashtag. You can imagine the range of comments—but what really set this story in motion is that Brown, himself, tweeted that CNS High’s executive principal should be let go. And that was apparently a no-no. Result? A three-day suspension for Brown. According to his own Twitter stream, he’s out till this Thursday (5/30).

Now, what’s interesting here is that while some reports indicate that Brown was on his cell phone in class—which in many schools would lead to some form of disciplinary action, though perhaps not immediate suspension—that doesn’t appear to be the impetus for the suspension. According to the CNN article, Brown says he was “called into the office and told he would be suspended for three days for harassing the principal, using a mobile phone in class and disrupting the learning environment.”

There’s the key: “harassing the principal”.

Harassing? It was Brown’s personal opinion that the executive principal is not performing up to snuff. He tweeted it. Unless there’s a serious chunk of the story that isn’t being reported, that doesn’t sound like harassment—it sounds like free speech.

Earlier, I said this kid is onto something. Here’s evidence of that—he tweeted this on May 25th:

“People who are comparing this to me insulting my future employer need to realize one thing…I do not work for my principal.”

You got that right. It’s taxpayer dollars that are paying the school administration’s and teacher’s salaries. And it’s not the principal who determines how the U.S. Constitution is to be interpreted (shameless plug: that would be for trial lawyers and the USSC to handle.)

Given that, perhaps the best suggestion for a CNS school budget cut came from @Rant_rant_rant:

“#shitcnsshouldcut Cut U.S. History classes, since the North Syr. school district no longer acknowledges the Constitution.”

Of course, I’m being facetious. But the tweeter’s got a point.

We’ll have to see where this story nets out, but in the meantime, a new hashtag has emerged: #FreePatBrown.

Tags: #FreePatBrown, #shitCNSshouldcut, Cicero North Syracuse School District, CNS High School, first amendment, freedom of speech, Pat Brown
Posted in Discrimination, Emerging Issues, Human/Civil Rights | No Comments »

Pleading Ignorance on SLAPP aka SHUTUP Lawsuits

June 9th, 2010. By Kristine B

I recently came across an interesting article in The New York Times. The article was about a phenomenon known as SLAPP: Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. Since the Internet has made SLAPP lawsuits more common, I thought I’d discuss them and their implications in this week’s Pleading Ignorance. 

At their heart, SLAPP lawsuits are designed to intimidate and censor critics. The idea is that a company, say MegaCo, wants to stop critics from saying negative things publicly about the company. MegaCo would file lawsuits against those individuals who speak out against the company in an attempt to silence them. 

Whether or not MegaCo would win the lawsuit is of no importance. Faced with mounting legal bills and the strain of a lawsuit, the defendant—often an individual with no legal team or financial resources to fall back on—abandons the criticism. Whether or not the criticism is valid is also of no importance. The important thing is that MegaCo has prevented someone from criticizing the company and has probably discouraged other critics from coming forward. 

In many cases, MegaCo and the defendant won’t even see the inside of a courtroom. Usually, companies like MegaCo send a strongly-worded warning letter from their legal department, threatening legal action if the criticism isn’t taken back. Because the plaintiff is usually an individual who has no desire to face a lawsuit, the criticism is quickly abandoned. 

Critics of SLAPP lawsuits say they violate free speech and amount to censorships. Some states, including California, have statutory protections against SLAPPs. 

What is so dangerous about these lawsuits is they are not intended to win on their merits. They are only intended to stop people from using their right to freedom of speech by scaring them into silence. The difference between a SLAPP lawsuit and a legitimate defamation Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Defamation, first amendment, freedom of speech, SLAPP
Posted in lawsuits | No Comments »