Judge rules school district can censor images on student T-shirt

Burlington Free Press | December 23 2004

A rural Vermont public school district won the right to censor images on a seventh-grader's anti-Bush T-shirt this week in a court battle that tested the limits of students' free speech.

Federal Judge William Sessions upheld the Williamstown School District's right to enforce a school dress code prohibition against clothing bearing images of drugs or alcohol.

Citing this policy, Williamstown Middle High School officials told student Zachary Guiles in May that his T-shirt did not conform to dress code and he must stop wearing it or alter it. He was asked to cover up images of a martini glass and cocaine on the shirt, which portrayed President Bush as a drug abuser and a "chicken-hawk-in-chief" who is engaged in a "World Domination Tour."

Zachary and his parents, Tim Guiles and Cynthia Lucas, protested the school's edict, but the boy eventually complied and applied duct tape to the offending images on the shirt. Over the tape, he wrote "censored" and was allowed to wear the altered T-shirt to school.

The family then sued the school district with assistance from the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The lawsuit in U.S. District Court contended that the school violated Zachary's First Amendment rights. The family also asked the school to expunge from Zachary's rec- ord a suspension connected with the T-shirt imbroglio.

Sessions found the school acted within the bounds set by the First Amendment but did order the discipline record expunged.

Zachary, 14, has been homeschooled most of his life but last year attended the Williamstown school full-time. This year he returned to being homeschooled.

Zachary Guiles and his father said Wednesday that they were disappointed by the Dec. 20 ruling. The T-shirt links Bush with substance abuse and in this way the images that were censored are central to the shirt's political message, the boy said. The shirt in no way condoned alcohol or drugs, Zachary added.

"I believe that using drugs and alcohol, especially in excess, shows a very high lack of judgment and especially someone who has done this should not be president," Zachary said.

Williamstown School district lawyer Tony Lamb of Burlington viewed the decision as a victory.

He said the school policy is a measured one that allows political expression but does not allow drug and alcohol images of any kind -- whether critical or condoning -- because they might be misunderstood and because students are besieged with ads and other media glamorizing substances outside of school.

"We think it's a fine decision. It supports what we're trying to do and gives us the leeway that we ask for, that we expect to have," Lamb said.

Seth Marineau, assistant principal at the school, was the person who asked Zachary to alter the T-shirt or stop wearing it. Nobody was trying to take the student's right to express his political views away, he said.

"We tried to be the least invasive as possible. I think it's fine for him to want to express those views in school," Marineau said.

Allen Gilbert, executive director of the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, characterized the judge's decision as a "mixed bag" and said his organization is considering an appeal.

"We think that the judge affirmed students' free speech rights even when the message, the political message of a T-shirt, is highly critical of somebody like the president. We think that's good," Gilbert said, "but we are disappointed that the judge ruled that the images that were banned were not an integral part of the political message."

Gilbert also questioned Sessions' intent when he upheld the censorship of images but said at one point in the 24-page opinion that the school district went too far when it ordered Zach to tape over the word "cocaine" along with the images.

The decision could be difficult for schools to interpret, Gilbert said. The ACLU does not object to school policies that prohibit apparel that promotes alcohol or drug use, he said. Williamstown's broad prohibition of such symbols regardless of the context muffles free speech and critical thinking, Gilbert said.

"Zach is a courageous kid," he said. "He put himself through a lot of grief to defend a principle he believes in."

Lamb countered that the broad prohibition is a more workable approach for busy school administrators.

"A bright line test is easier to apply because we don't want to spend a lot of time on this, although we ended up spending a lot of time on this case in this particular," Lamb said.

Zachary Guiles and his parents did not seek monetary damages in the lawsuit. How much the case will cost Williamstown taxpayers in legal fees is unclear. Insurance might cover a portion of the total bill, which has not been tallied, Lamb said. He charged the district $100 an hour for his services and said the total will definitely be in the thousands.