Appeals Court Overturns Student's Suspension For Rap Song Criticizing School Employees

from the your-rights-end-where-our-thin-skin-begins dept

Thu, Dec 18th 2014 8:16am — Tim Cushing

Back in 2010, Taylor Bell -- an aspiring rap artists and student at Itawamba High School in Mississippi -- heard from others students that two of the school's coaches were making inappropriate comments and sexual overtures towards female students. Realizing (correctly, it would seem) that the school's administrators would do little to address the situation, he recorded a rap song about the touchy-feely (but in a bad way) coaches while off on Christmas break and posted to Facebook.

Upon his return to school, he was suspended by school officials, who claimed the song "threatened, intimidated and harassed" the two coaches named in the track. They also claimed the track was a "disruption." This is contradicted by accounts of the disciplinary meeting, as recounted by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

At the disciplinary/due process hearing, no evidence was presented that the song had caused or had been forecasted to cause a material or substantial disruption to the school's work or discipline. In addition, there was no evidence presented indicating that any student or staff had listened to the song on the school campus, aside from the single instance when (Coach Michael) Wildmon had a student play the song for him on his cellphone in violation of school rules. Neither of the coaches named in the song attended or testified at the hearing, and no evidence was presented at the hearing that the coaches themselves perceived the song as an actual threat or disruption.

Despite this lack of evidence, Bell was suspended from the school and all extracurricular activities and forced to attend an alternative school for nine weeks. The lower court upheld this suspension, granting the school summary judgement and stating these actions did not violate Bell's free speech rights. The appeals court found otherwise, pointing to the lower court's clumsy application of the Tinker Test, a Supreme Court decision that considered where students' free speech rights end and "disruptive speech" begins. According to the appeals court, the school failed to provide evidence that Bell's rap song disrupted school operations.

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the School Board, there was no commotion, boisterous conduct, interruption of classes, or any lack of order, discipline and decorum at the school, as a result of Bell's posting of his song on the Internet… Indeed, the School Board's inability to point to any evidence in the record of a disruption directly undermines its argument and the district court's conclusion that the summary-judgment evidence supports a finding that a substantial disruption occurred or reasonably could have been forecasted.

At the preliminary injunction hearing, Wildmon explained that his students "seem[ed] to act normal" after the posting of the song, and Rainey testified that most of the talk amongst students had not been about Bell's song but rather about his suspension and transfer to alternative school. No evidence was offered that Bell or any other student listened to the song on campus, aside from the single instance when Wildmon had a student play the song for him on his cellphone.

As for the school board's argument that Bell's song (which can be found in its entirety in the ruling, along with some entertaining footnotes) was a "true threat," the evidence presented by the school undermines this claim as well.

The School Board's additional argument that Bell's rap song falls within the "true threat" exception to the First Amendment is likewise meritless. As explained infra, Bell's rap was not a plainspoken threat delivered directly, privately, or seriously to the coaches but, rather, was a form of music or art broadcast in a public media to critique the coaches' misconduct and also in furtherance of Bell's musical ambitions.

Moreover, Bell's rap was not an unconditional threat that Bell himself would physically harm the coaches; at most, the song amounted to a conditional warning to them of possible harm from the female students' family members if they continued to harass the young women. Finally, as evidenced by the reactions of the listeners themselves, there was no reasonable or objective ground for the coaches to fear that Bell personally would harm them.

Indeed, the "threat" was so "true" that officials allowed Bell to remain on campus until the end of the school day. He wasn't suspended until nearly a week later, following a weather-related school closure.

This is what the school's thin skin has netted it after two years of courtroom battling: a judgment in favor of Bell, awarding him nominal damages, court costs, attorneys' fees and an order to expunge this suspension from his record. This court battle sprung out of a school's desire to view Bell's criticism as a threat. This behavior bears out Bell's assertion that bringing the coaches' misconduct to the attention of school officials would have gone nowhere. So, he addressed it in his own way, simultaneously working towards his goal of becoming a rap artist.

To be sure, the song is vulgar (h/t Venkat Balasubramani) and occasionally very ugly, but so are the accusations. The medium itself often indulges in profanity and violence for its own sake, but in certain situations, nothing else is quite as effective in getting the point across. Bell's track achieved its goal -- more awareness about certain coaches' activities. It also highlighted his school's inability to deal with criticism or respect its students' rights -- something that's far too common in schools across America. The rise of social media has given more students a platform for expression and school administrators are having a hard time adjusting to the new reality.

Fifth Circuit Taylor Bell (PDF)Fifth Circuit Taylor Bell (Text)

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Filed Under: free speech, rap song, schools, taylor bell

20 Comments

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Michael, 18 Dec 2014 @ 8:52am

It was clearly disruptive to the harassing of female students.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2014 @ 8:55am

Too bad he had to endure the stupidity. But at least the POS instructors were exposed.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2014 @ 9:01am

What is it
Funny how schools that are supposed to be about raising and protecting kids to the best adults somehow turn into protecting their own and potentially ruining lives.
For what?
Will the school somehow close down tomorrow because they admit some coaches need to go through sexual harassment training, or hell need to be fired? Will it loose funding?
NO!
what the hell are these school administrators always SO up in arms about?
They admittedly don't make a ton of money, they are supposed to be in it for "The kids". So why the hell do you constantly see stories in the news that are starkly in contrast against that very goal?
It blows my god damn mind.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2014 @ 9:04am

Sticks
The schools keeps throwing crap against the wall to see what sticks. Eventually something will and this will be the new normal level of tolerance.
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Dan J. (profile), 18 Dec 2014 @ 9:40am

The Children!
But you have to think of the children! Oh, wait, I'm sorry. No, don't, don't think of the children!
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- Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2014 @ 9:50am
  
  Re: The Children!
  Based on the coaches in this article... to damn late!
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2014 @ 9:49am

The true shame here...
Kids are being taught that they have no rights...

I will never send my children to public school where they are conditioned to ignore their rights in the face of a perceived superior.

People should have said WTF? the moment someone said... "Hello, I am from the Government, and the law says I get to have your kids for 8 hours a day for the majority of the year!"

People need to wake up and realize what is going on in these United States.... only a fool believes this will not end in blood shed when they finally decide to fight for their liberty.
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- John Fenderson (profile), 18 Dec 2014 @ 10:14am
  
  Re: The true shame here...
  "I will never send my children to public school where they are conditioned to ignore their rights in the face of a perceived superior."
  
  This is relatively easy to counter, though. I think it would be an excellent and powerful lesson for a student to see his parents fighting back against the misbehavior of authority figures.
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- PRMan, 18 Dec 2014 @ 11:02am
  
  Re: The true shame here...
  One teacher told my daughter that she couldn't choose Jesus as her hero for a school paper. I told her that she absolutely could and that if the teacher had a problem with it that I could talk to her for me.
  
  She said "No, I'll handle it."
  
  Later she had to do a paper about a magazine article. So she chose an article about the religious rights of students in the classroom and even handed out a sheet explaining them and the associated court cases.
  
  I was super proud of her. She learned to stand up for her rights all by herself.
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  - John Fenderson (profile), 18 Dec 2014 @ 12:19pm
    
    Re: Re: The true shame here...
    You should be proud. That's precisely how it's done.
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  - Pragmatic, 19 Dec 2014 @ 5:20am
    
    Re: Re: The true shame here...
    Go, PRMan's daughter! :D
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- Mason Wheeler (profile), 18 Dec 2014 @ 11:19am
  
  Re: The true shame here...
  People should have said WTF? the moment someone said... "Hello, I am from the Government, and the law says I get to have your kids for 8 hours a day for the majority of the year!"
  
  A lot of people did. Read up on the history of the introduction of mandatory public education. But that happened long before you or I were born.
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  - Frok (profile), 19 Dec 2014 @ 12:16am
    
    "parents" in name
    Some people "have" children.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2014 @ 9:52am

At the preliminary injunction hearing, Wildmon explained that his students "seem[ed] to act normal" after the posting of the song, and Rainey testified that most of the talk amongst students had not been about Bell's song but rather about his suspension and transfer to alternative school.

So the school itself caused the disruption. Are they going to suspend themselves as a result, according to the rules?
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- Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2014 @ 1:56pm
  
  Re:
  Not only did they cause the disruption, but depending on the facts, they may have covered up sexual harassment and potentially violated federal laws forcing admins to report incidents like this to make sure no one is getting abused by their teachers/coaches.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Dec 2014 @ 10:34am

school administrators and heads act the same as the entertainment industries. they think that everything they say and do is correct and whatever anyone else says or does is wrong! they also think that the times are the same now as they were 30 years ago when whatever a teacher says has to be obeyed and that any deviation from the dictated line results in disciplinary measures! what they forget oh so soon is the myriad of ways to record the truth of an encounter. even then they try to bypass whatever evidence that disputes the claims of wrong doing by students or teachers
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Frok (profile), 19 Dec 2014 @ 12:15am

the ACLJ exists to defend these rights
NOT to be conflated with aclu, an Uncle Joe favorite
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- Sheogorath (profile), 19 Dec 2014 @ 8:46am
  
  Re: the ACLJ exists to defend these rights
  The ACLJ exists to defend religious rights, if your religion is Christianity. If you're a Moslem or a Buddhist, for example, then the ACLJ will fight against those rights. I'd be much better off with the 'Uncle Joe favorite'. Simples!
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- John Fenderson (profile), 19 Dec 2014 @ 1:21pm
  
  Re: the ACLJ exists to defend these rights
  The ACLJ? Seriously? That scumbag group that was founded by Satan impersonator Pat Robertson?
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bdj, 19 Dec 2014 @ 11:53am

Itawamba High School protects perverted staff
Itawamba High School, meet 'Streisand effect'. If you had just dealt with your perverted coaches you would have faired much better in the court of public opinion. Now we all know that you condone staff viewing the teen girls they look after as objects of sexual desire rather than vulnerable students. We know this to be true by your actions; you chose to shoot the messenger rather than investigate the dirty old scumbag men you employ as 'coaches'.

You do not deserve our respect and you are not fit to protect our children. You should all be fired for your shameful handling of this matter.
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