Public Policy Analysis Paper

The Exchange of Ideas: Freedom of Expression

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

-First Amendment to the United States Constitution

“In our system, students may not be regarded as closed-circuit recipients of only that which the State chooses to communicate. They may not be confined to the expression of those sentiments that are officially approved. In the absence of specific showing of constitutionally valid reasons to regulate their speech, students are entitled to freedom of expression of their views.”

-Justice Abe Fortas, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969)

Purpose: As a student at NOVA Community College you are required to write at least 10 pages per semester. Our Dual Enrollment course will assign four public policy papers that will be assigned per marking period [1 per nine weeks] that will be 5-pages in length.

Topic:Should students’ cyber speech be protected under the First Amendment

What is the right balance between freedom of expression and the censorship in schools? The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects a citizen’s right to speech, thought, and conscience against state control. For students however, speech has been limited in order to ensure a safe learning environment, Although the court ruled in New Jersey v. T.L.O, that “the rights of students in public school are not automatically coextensive with those of adults in others settings.” Yet, Justice Abe Fortas reminds the public in Tinker that neither students nor teachers “shed their constitutional right to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

How does this same general standard apply to students’ speech in cyberspace? What actions can school administrators take in order to curb online speech and activities by their students? Is cyber-bullying harassment or free speech? In this new geographic world boundaries are unclear, what is the difference, if any between inside and outside of the “schoolhouse gates?” Students from several major universities have been expelled for controversial tweets dealing with racial issues. Do schools have the right to expel, or suspend students who ‘tweet’ or post offensive messages on social media? What is the line between censoring disruptive behavior and protecting students’ fundamental right to freedom of expression?

Directions

  1. Download “Freedom of Speech and Press: Exceptions to the First Amendment in Your Campaign” website. Make sure you understand what speech is not protected. Use the table of contents to narrow your search.
  2. Visit the following link and read the article entitled “Anti-cyber Bullying laws are Unconstitutional”
  3. Here are the rules and guidelines for cyber bulling in the state of Virginia
  4. Here are some examples of tweets and posts at the college level and impact they had on the student
  5. Please write a 5-page analysis answering the questions posed in the description of the assignment.

Purpose
As a student at NOVA Community College you are required to write at least 10 pages per semester. Our Dual Enrollment course will assign four public policy papers that will be assigned per marking period [1 per nine weeks] that will be 5-pages in length.

Grading

This assignment is worth 100 points toward your course grade. You will be graded according to the Page Response Grading Rubric.

Paper Set up
Make sure to use Chicago Turabian format with citations.

  1. Times New Roman Font [12 pt]
  2. Double Spaced
  3. Cover Page
  4. Bibliography Page
  5. Please go to the following website and view the tutorial provided!!! Your paper must be setup exactly the example shown
  6. Please visit: and click on the Chicago tab [it will be red]. This will set up all of your citations that you gather for your paper and will let you create a bibliography that must be included at the end of your paper.
  7. All your citations in the bibliography must be in a hanging indent format. Please visit: for more information on how to format correctly. Note: Citation Machine will already have done this for you.

Note:

*If you are absent on the day the paper is due, you will receive a zero for the assignment. If you are absent for any reason, the paper must be submitted on Turn-it-in.com or in my email by 9am on the day in which you have class and the paper is due.

If you do not follow the paper guidelines and do not cite properly, you will receive no credit.