Viewpoint Restrictions and School-Sponsored Student Speech: Avenues for Heightened Protection
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Normal constitutional rules do not always apply within the schoolhouse. The Supreme Court has concluded that the constitutional rights generally available in other social situations may not exist-at least not coextensively-in the educational context.' This general proposition embraces in particular the expressive rights of students. Although the First Amendment rights of students do not disappear when they enter a school building, they may be circumscribed. Student expression is clearly subject to limitation when it is sponsored by the school. In Hazelwood School District v Kuhlmeier,3 the Supreme Court determined that restrictions on school-sponsored student speech-defined to include speech that is in some respect affirmatively promoted by the school -are permissible if reasonably related to valid pedagogical purposes.4 Given the general judicial practice of deferring to the expertise of school authorities in deciding what constitutes a valid pedagogical purpose,' the Hazelwood standard accords wide latitude to the authorities regarding school-sponsored student expression. Restrictions on school-sponsored expression are either contentbased, prohibiting an entire subject of discourse, or viewpoint-based, prohibiting discussion about a subject from a particular perspective.6 Since content-based restrictions limit all expression on a subject, regardless of perspective, they do not discriminate among speakers and points of view on that subject, and judicial deference to school offi-