On The Front Lines
The Rutherford Institute Defends Students' Rights to Free Speech, Free Expression and Free Exercise of Religion in Senior Tile Project
School Board Agrees to Display Tiles Bearing Religious InscriptionsMORRISVILLE, N.C.--Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have successfully defended the rights of senior high students whose free speech and religious rights were violated when school officials removed tiles the students had inscribed with religious messages from the Senior Tile Project. Institute attorneys informed school officials at Green Hope High School that by excluding the students' tiles, the school board violated the students' rights to free speech, free expression and free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The Wake County School Board has agreed to restore the tiles bearing religious inscriptions to the tile display.
Each year, a gift is provided to Green Hope High School by the senior committee, which is composed of the senior class and several members of the faculty and administration. This year's senior committee decided to create a wall decorated with tiles, designed by the members of the class and entitled the Senior Tile Project. Members of the senior class were given no guidelines for decorating their tiles, however, they were informed that the tiles would be reviewed by a Screening Committee and would not be displayed if the committee determined that any message or picture contained in the tiles was offensive, vulgar or lewd. Seniors Steven Magnusen and Candice Parks chose to decorate their tiles with religious inscriptions, which included the words "God" and "Jesus Christ." On May 6, 2003, Magnusen and Parks received letters from the Screening Committee informing them that their tiles had been selected for removal from the Senior Tile Project based solely on their religious content. The Screening Committee claimed that its actions were consistent with a policy instituted by the Wake County School Board. Rutherford Institute attorneys informed school officials that by inviting members of the senior class to participate in the Senior Tile Project by choosing messages or images to be inscribed on the tiles, the school had created a limited public forum and was obligated to include religious viewpoints as well as secular ones.
"The Wake County School Board has done the right thing by affirming that student expression can't be singled out for censorship and exclusion simply because it is religious," stated John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "We hope that other school districts will take note of the Board's decision for inclusion and follow its example of real pluralism."
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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