Tennessee student’s suspension over memes sends ‘dangerous’ message: lawyer
A Tennessee high school suspended a student for posting memes that made fun of the principal. Lawyers say the school violated the student's free speech rights.
A Tennessee high school student suspended for posting satirical memes about his principal will have the offense scrubbed for the duration of a lawsuit, according to a press release Tuesday.
FIRE (The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Tullahoma High School rising senior identified as "I.P." in court filings weeks before, declaring the school's move to suspend a student who posted the content while off-campus violated his First Amendment rights.
In response to the lawsuit, Tullahoma High School also walked back its handbook policies barring "embarrassing" social media photos and posts "unbecoming of a Wildcat [the school's mascot]."
Memes shared by a student show Tullahoma High School’s principal in a satirical light. (Courtesy Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression)
"We’re glad that the school has taken these corrective actions, but the fight isn’t over," FIRE attorney Conor Fitzpatrick said in the press release. "We won’t rest until the student’s constitutional rights are fully vindicated and the district removes this suspension, and these vague policies, for good."
Fitzpatrick told Fox News last month that criticizing and satirizing people in power has "been as part of American culture since its founding."
"It teaches a very dangerous lesson to kids about what America and our Constitution is about if they're taught from a young age that if they criticize or satirize somebody in power that they can get in trouble for it," he added.
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A Tennessee high school student was suspended for posting three memes of his principal, but the school later reversed the suspension and the policy. ((Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images))
Tuesday's press release detailed the student's three memes under scrutiny - one featuring Principal Jason Quick holding a box of vegetables that contained the caption "My brotha." The second featured Quick as an anime cat complete with whiskers and a dress and the third featured Quick's head superimposed on a cartoon figure being hugged by a bird.
Fitzpatrick previously called the memes "tame." The press release indicated the student's intent was to post the memes as "tongue-in-cheek commentary" to "gently" satirize the principal he viewed as "humorless."
Tullahoma News reported that Quick tendered his resignation earlier this year.
The district's moves followed FIRE's motion for a preliminary injunction to remove the suspension from the student's record and push to remove the social media policies.
FIRE and the student are proceeding with their lawsuit, requesting that the policy and suspension reversal be made permanent, and the student receive monetary damages.
Quick tendered his resignation as principal effective June 30, according to local outlet Tullahoma News.
Fox News Digital reached out to FIRE and Quick's successor at Tullahoma High School for additional comment, but did not immediately hear back from the latter.
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FIRE attorney Conor Fitzpatrick responded with the following:
"Students have made fun of their teachers and principals on their own time as long as there have been schools. Unless a student's expression causes substantial disruption at school, the First Amendment bans teachers and administrators from punishing a student for their private speech. There is no ‘but they made fun of me’ exception to the First Amendment."
Concerning the school's response, he added: "This is good news for the students of Tullahoma High School. The school had no business policing students' personal and non-disruptive social media posts."
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