Once Again, a School Denies a Student Her First Amendment Free Speech Rights: The Case of Emily Hernandez Medina

Bill of Rights, National Archives

This kind of thing has happened several times and I’m getting tired of hearing about it. Emily Hernandez Medina, valedictorian of Nevada’s North Valleys High School, wanted to talk about students and groups who were often neglected in school. She had prepared a graduation speech that was charming but a tiny bit controversial. The school administration refused to allow her to give her speech, which she then posted on the Internet, thus getting far more publicity than if she had spoken at the ceremony.

So, once again, an outstanding graduating senior was denied her First Amendment rights.

Emily's speech, which sounded innocuous when I listened to it, carried this theme: “So, here's to all the fine arts kids, STEM students, and those in chess, robotics, academic Olympics, Latino Club and Key Club.” She spoke at length about her experiences in school orchestra and praised the school band and choir. She thanked her mother in Spanish. She commented that: “While it seems like athletes are the face of the school, you are the ones that add so much personality and depth to this community. You're not invisible.” This was apparently not positive enough to satisfy the school’s administration.

It seems that Emily was listed in the program but was not introduced as a speaker. Emily says that her hallway valedictorian photo was replaced by a cruel caricature. She offered to rewrite the speech but was rebuffed. The school’s administrators declined to comment about the event; the school district issued the bland statement that: "Editorial decisions by school administration are common as schools plan, practice and develop the program for a graduation ceremony."

Comments:

1. Emily did not surrender her First Amendment rights when she walked through the schoolroom door or stands up to give a presentation to her classmates and parents. In the case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment gives substantial protection for students when they express a controversial point. Exceptions are made if the student’s speech or behavior would be obscene or disruptive, but Emily’s speech, although thought-provoking, posed no danger of disrupting the proceedings.

2. People often have a stuffy idea of what is appropriate in a graduation or ceremonial speech. Their excessively tender sensibilities do not overturn the student’s free speech rights. Although many people are more comfortable when they hear a bland graduation speech, there is no requirement that the student should give a forgettable speech.

3. A bureaucracy’s first instinct is to defend itself. In general, I think highly of our nation’s public schools, but anyone who interacts with schools knows that they do sometimes become not only bureaucratic but prickly and defensive. This seems to be a case in point.

4. I sympathize with Emily’s point that academic excellence, which is supposed to be a school’s mission, often takes second place to athletics. I was a good high school student, although I was not a star like Emily, and I participated in activities like the debate team and literary magazine. Emily was trying to call her audience’s attention to academics. That was entirely right. Every high school in the country lists academics at the top of their mission statement, do they not? All three of my children participated in school orchestra (two of them eventually became professional musicians), so I felt a special soft spot for Emily’s pride at participating in a school musical group.

If we want to teach civics to high school students, we must recognize that constitutional rights start in our own neighborhoods, our own backyards, and, yes, in school graduation ceremonies. If people felt uncomfortable with what Emily said, the solution was not to squelch her, but to think about the values that she spoke for and to give academic stars a better experience. She had a right to speak. Instead of teaching good citizenship by example, the school taught Emily that the world can be unjust. The school also (accidentally) helped her learn to fight injustice.

It's not enough to praise our United States Constitution. We must also live by it.

I have blogged about ceremonial speeches many times. Never underestimate a good ceremonial speech’s power to get us thinking.

P.S. Congratulations to Emily on her fine work in high school. Best of good fortune to her.