Y&M - Student Rights

Photo: Barbara A. Bloom

High School Students' Rights

The following is from an article in the October 2000 Y&M Magazine. A print version is also available.

Topics:

Introduction: Say What?
Rights Under the First Amendment
What is a "public forum"?
Supreme Court Rulings
The Equal Access Act (1984)
Examples of Things You Can Do – and Restrictions
What You Can Do to Exercise Your Rights and Who Can Help You

The Equal Access Act (1984)

The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund has more information on the Equal Access Act (including the relevant sections of the law and court cases) and other resources for defending groups such as Gay/Straight Alliances.

This federal law protects student groups in public high schools. It applies to schools which meet these conditions: the high school is public, it receives federal financial assistance, and it allows any noncurriculum-related student group to meet (in the school) outside of school time. (This last condition is called a "limited open forum" and is rather complicated; see the Lambda LDEF for more information.) If these three conditions apply, a school can't tell students they can't meet just because the school doesn't like what the students are meeting about. For instance, this law has helped young people who have had difficulty starting Gay/Straight Alliances in their schools.

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