Is a bracelet that says “I (heart) boobies” lewd and inappropriate in a school setting? What are a school district’s boundaries when censoring student speech?

These and other issues piqued student interest and raised debate during L’Anse Creuse High School North’s inaugural Great Lakes First Amendment Law Clinic on Tuesday.

Led by Michigan State University College of Law students Ellen Durkee and Matthew Turchyn, the clinic, which consists of eight sessions in all, covers topics such as student press rights, libel, copyright and privacy law, among other First Amendment issues.

LCN is one of only four high schools currently collaborating with the MSU College of Law and School of Journalism to offer this program to its journalism classes.

“I chose schools who have journalism faculty advisers who are very passionate and involved with what they do and also involved in the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association,” said Nancy Costello, co-director of GLFALC. “I wanted this to be successful and I knew these advisers would be engaging with my students because they showed a real in-depth interest in wanting to learn themselves.” 

LCN journalism teacher and newspaper adviser Kim Kozian is one such adviser. 

“I want (students) to understand what their rights are, what their limits are,” Kozian said. “All of these things can be applied not just to publications, but I think, in life. I mean, knowing your constitution and your rights as a citizen in a democracy to me is really important.”

Durkee and Turchyn focused Tuesday’s discussion on the different rights protected under the First Amendment and how these rights apply to the lives of LCN students.

For many students, it was the issue of freedom of speech and expression to which they related most.

“I learned a lot about school districts and realized I probably have more of a say,” said LCN student Nicole Voight, referring to her newfound understanding of First Amendment rights.

When Durkee asked students if they had ever been told they couldn’t wear a certain item of clothing or express their viewpoint in a certain way, several hands went up.

“I was told I couldn’t wear my shirt (picturing a gun) because it promotes violence,” said one student.

“We’re not allowed to wear sagging pants,” noted another.

To stimulate further discussion of in-school freedom of speech, students were divided into two groups and asked to develop arguments for and against the wearing of clothing items promoting breast cancer awareness with messages such as “I (heart) boobies.”

On the opposing side, students argued such items could promote inappropriate actions by men and offend women or make them self-conscious, while on the supporting side, students said wearing such items constitutes political speech and thus is protected by the First Amendment.

Kozian said it is discussions such as these she hopes will encourage students to take a greater interest in their constitutional rights.

“I think this kind of knowledge about the things that they are allowed and the things that are limited to them as far as press rights and speech rights are valuable,” Kozian said. “I’m hoping the students who will come onto newspaper and yearbook next year, who will come out of these classes, will be able to take some of these concepts and apply them. Maybe they won’t be afraid to touch on controversial topics.”

Costello said while she, too, hopes journalism students will feel confident in tackling more controversial issues, she has the added hope they will know the law in doing so.

“Journalism students, who are writers and communicators by nature, are involved in Facebook, Twitter and blogs, and sometimes as a student of journalism they want to list information from a Facebook page or blog, and then you run into copyright issues,” Costello said. “Most journalism advisers don’t have a lot of background in this. [The clinic] is a win-win for law students and the high schools.”

The GLFALC is a three-part program, which sees MSU law students working pro bono on high school and college journalism legal issues, participating in a statewide Freedom of Information Act project and teaching these sessions at local high schools.