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"mong several federal appeals court rulings on student speech in the spring and summer of 2011 were five involving high school students punished for off-campus, online speech. The issue appears increasingly likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve an apparent split among several circuits and to address confusion about whether the Supreme Court's standards for censoring or punishing student speech should extend off campus."

An op-ed that argues that schools should be able to discipline students for school related online speech. "The Supreme Court must abandon the Tinker standard in these cases of off-campus school-related speech and create a new standard that restores dignity and respect for school officials."

"At Yale University, you can be prevented from putting an F. Scott Fitzgerald quote on your T-shirt. At Tufts, you can be censured for quoting certain passages from the Quran. Welcome to the most authoritarian institution in America: the modern university-"a bizarre, parallel dimension," as Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, calls it. Mr. Lukianoff, a 38-year-old Stanford Law grad, has spent the past decade fighting free-speech battles on college campuses. The latest was last week at Fordham University, where President Joseph McShane scolded College Republicans for the sin of inviting Ann Coulter to speak."

"Last fall, the editors of Neshaminy High School's student newspaper, The Playwickian, said they would no longer use the word 'redskin' in their publication. Redskin is Neshaminy's longtime nickname and the name of its mascot. The school administration's overturning of the ban on the word has raised concerns about the rights of student newspapers and censorship. The students recently announced that the ban of the word will resume and litigation in the case is pending. Joining us to discuss this case and others like it are GILLIAN MCGOLDRICK, Editor-in-Chief of The Playwickian, Neshaminy High School's student paper, and FRANK LOMONTE, the Executive Director of the Student Press Law Center. Then we'll check in with GREG LUKIANOFF, the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), on free speech on college campuses."

Doninger must file for appeal with the Supreme Court by July 25, and Blue Mountain School District must file by Sept. 12. The Supreme Court will then decide if it will hear either of the cases. They would be the first rulings from the high court on students' right to free speech on the Interne

The Supreme Court must abandon the Tinker standard in these cases of off-campus school-related speech and create a new standard that restores dignity and respect for school officials. Courts cannot continue to use Tinker as a tool to substitute their judgment for the expertise of beleaguered school officials.

Two conflicting online student speech rights cases are scheduled to be reheard on June 3. The decisions, which are likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court, will govern Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and the Virgin Islands and dictate the authority schools have over what students write on social networking sites.

"The Doninger decision was made in the context of nuanced civil procedure, and law governing student free speech rights previously mangled and misconstrued by other courts. If anything, the Doninger decision says more about the state of student free expression, than any one jurist's take on free expression and the First Amendment."

School districts around the state are considering disciplining students for their off-campus transgressions, even though such a policy may spark lawsuits from parents and free-speech advocates. A similar off-campus policy at a Bergen County school is being debated in the New Jersey courts. High schools around the country have had to deal with these incidents for decades, but social network sites are making it easier for school officials to nab teenage culprits.

Article that deals with how cyberbullying laws like the one in New Jersey might impact student free speech rights. Includes an interview with Avery Doninger.

Katherine Evans said she was frustrated with her English teacher for ignoring her pleas for help with assignments and a brusque reproach when she missed class to attend a school blood drive. So Evans, who was then a high school senior and honor student, logged onto the networking site Facebook and wrote a rant against the teacher, Sarah Phelps. "To those select students who have had the displeasure of having Sarah Phelps, or simply knowing her and her insane antics: Here is the place to express your feelings of hatred," she wrote. Her posting drew a handful of responses, some of which were in support of the teacher and critical of Evans. "Whatever your reasons for hating her are, they're probably very immature," a former student of Phelps wrote in her defense. A few days later, Evans removed the post from her Facebook page and went about the business of preparing for graduation and studying journalism in the fall. But two months after her online venting, Evans was called into the principal's office and was told she was being suspended for "cyberbullying," a blemish on her record that she said she feared could keep her from getting into graduate schools or landing her dream job.

Each year on Constitution Day, students and teachers celebrate the most fundamental laws of our republic. On this Constitution Day, they should also celebrate Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and other social media. Why? Because it turns out that social media are good for the Constitution. Specifically, they're good for the First Amendment. Fully 91 percent of students who use social networking to get news and information daily believe people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions, compared with 77 percent of those who never use social networks to get news. Not all the news is good this year. While more students understand that government can't censor the media in this country, nearly 40 percent still don't. While more students say they think about the First Amendment, most still don't. Even so, when the numbers start to move in the right direction, it's cause for celebration. Do we have teachers to thank for recent improvements in First Amendment attitudes? Not really. Fewer students say they get First Amendment instruction in school than in our last survey. And only 30 percent of teachers say they are teaching the subject. I'm afraid many teachers are a drag on First Amendment learning. The survey says most don't support free expression rights in a school context. They don't think school papers should print controversial articles. They don't think students should post about school on Facebook. And they mostly think social media hurt teaching.

"The trouble is that student editors actually do have that right. Americans young and old tend to remember that the First Amendment protects speech and the press. But Neshaminy officials and others seem to have forgotten what it protects free expression from: the government. When a public entity such as a school board interferes with the content of a student newspaper, it is engaging in exactly the sort of infringement the First Amendment prohibits. When student editors make decisions about the content of a newspaper, on the other hand, they are exercising their right to run a free and independent publication. The Pennsylvania School Press Association encourages student journalists to "recognize, uphold, and advocate First Amendment rights.""

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has upheld a U.S. law that bars "material support" to foreign terrorist organizations, rejecting a free speech challenge from humanitarian aid groups. The court ruled 6-3 Monday that the government may prohibit all forms of aid to designated terrorist groups, even if the support consists of training and advice about entirely peaceful and legal activities.

The 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Pennsylvania ordered on Friday that the conflicting rulings in two student online speech cases be vacated and heard by the full court in June. This order nullifies the previous decisions, which were each made by panels of three judges each, and will replace them with decisions made by the entire panel of 3rd Circuit judges, after a hearing on June 3.

Fresh from deciding one major free-speech challenge last week, the Supreme Court said Monday that it will take up another: whether states may forbid the sale of violent video games to minors.

CNN) -- A 19-year-old Pennsylvania woman sued her former high school Thursday, claiming school officials invaded her privacy and violated her free-speech rights when they confiscated her cell phone, found semi-nude photos stored inside and turned the phone over to authoritie

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's most famous living poet Tomas Transtromer won the Nobel prize for literature on Thursday, more than 20 years after a stroke severely limited his speech and movement, but not the power of his writing.

There was clearly some disappointment after Apple's iPhone 4S announcement Tuesday. Twitter was awash with despondent Apple fans who had expected an iPhone 5.   Investors seemed just as crestfallen. Apple's stock fell sharply during the speech. (It bounced back a bit by the close of trading.)

"Nigerian Man Pleads Guilty in Qaeda Plane Bombing Case DETROIT - Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a commercial airliner with a bomb in his underwear in 2009, abruptly pleaded guilty Wednesday morning to each of the eight counts against him, officials said. Enlarge This Image U.S. Marshals Service, via Associated Press Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab Related U.S. Says Man Admitted Plot to Blow Up Passenger Jet (October 12, 2011) Times Topic: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab National Twitter Logo. Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @NYTimesNational for breaking news and headlines. Readers' Comments Share your thoughts. Post a Comment » Read All Comments (60) » The sudden reversal came before the start of the second day of proceedings in the jury trial of Mr. Abdulmutallab, who is not a lawyer but who was representing himself and had pleaded not guilty months ago. After officially entering his guilty plea, Mr. Abdulmutallab, dressed in a gold-shaded tunic, calmly read a six-minute speech to the courtroom in which he suggested that his crimes had been a fitting payback for American-led killings of people in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, and that he would never be judged as guilty under Islamic law. "I intended to wreck a U.S. aircraft for the U.S. wreckage of Muslim lands and property," the Associated Press quoted him as saying. "