Follow-up story in yesterday's paper.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/local/11126482.htm
Student dons shirt again to mark win
By Masaaki Harada
The Journal Gazette
Nelson Griggs attended classes Friday at Elmhurst High School, wearing the same T-shirt that prompted his suspension two years ago.
A federal magistrate ruled last week that Fort Wayne Community Schools violated Griggs’ First Amendment rights to free speech when it suspended him for wearing the T-shirt bearing the likeness of an M-16 rifle and text of the Marine Corps creed.
Griggs was notified of the ruling Thursday, and decided to wear the T-shirt to school again.
“The only reactions I had were positive ones,†he said. “The faculty must have known the ruling. They were very cautious.â€
When Griggs wore the T-shirt to school in March 2003, he only wanted to show his support for the troops overseas. He had no idea his wardrobe would end up being a federal case, he said.
“This is a very important victory for the free speech rights of students,†said John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute. “Hopefully, this will send a signal across this country reminding schools of rights protected by the Constitution.â€
The Rutherford Institute, a conservative non-profit agency based in Charlottesville, Va., sponsored the lawsuit. Whitehead said the organization paid all legal fees. This type of lawsuit typically costs several thousand dollars, he said.
The Rutherford Institute assists in civil liberties lawsuits, Whitehead said, but few of them focus on free speech such as Griggs’ case.
Since the mid-1990s, the organization has seen a surge in cases in which zero-tolerance policies in schools were more of a disservice to students, Whitehead said.
“These are cases, if we go back 20 years ago, no one would have even thought of. School systems would not have even thought of,†he said. “Especially after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, schools got much more sensitive and cracked down on anything perceived to be violent.â€
When Griggs wore the shirt, he was told by a school official that he would be disciplined if he wore it again. But he believed the shirt was protected under the First Amendment and wore it the next day, court documents said.
At that point, Elmhurst’s principal ordered Griggs to serve an in-school suspension and told him he would be given an out-of-school suspension if he wore the shirt again, court documents said.
Griggs didn’t wear the shirt again, and the dispute was not entered in his student record, court documents said.
Griggs and his father, David Griggs, however, sued Fort Wayne Community Schools, alleging the school’s dress code violated Griggs’ First Amendment rights.
Students are not allowed to wear clothing that “may disrupt the classroom,†the district’s dress code states. The code also prohibits clothing with symbols of violence.
U.S. Magistrate Roger B. Cosbey ruled that the school district’s ban on “symbols of violence†also is permitted by the First Amendment, but the particular ban on the Griggs’ T-shirt was unconstitutional.
In the ruling, Cosbey said schools are under pressure to prevent student violence, but “the discretion afforded to administrators to censor student speech cannot be limitless.â€
FWCS declined to comment Friday because it had not read the lawsuit, spokeswoman Debbie Morgan said. She could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Griggs, now in his junior year, said the ruling was exactly what he wanted.
“We were not asking anything exeme here,†he said. “I was just asking for wearing my T-shirt.â€
