Anti-terrorist T-shirt violates dress code
Dos Palos High School freshman Donald Miller lost his lawsuit against the school for discipline imposed for wearing a T-shirt that he considered showed support for U.S. troops in Iraq. The shirt had an image of a gun on the front and the back included the statement “U.S. Terrorist Hunting Permit – Gun Owner, No Bag Limit.”
After being told that his shirt violated the school’s dress code, David wore it to school two more times. He mouthed off about having to change his shirt and was given detention.
On September 30, 2008 a federal court cited the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Frederick v. Morse (2007) authorizing school censorship of student speech when it promoted illegal drug use. In this case, David’s speech advocated violence and could therefore be censored.
On the other hand, a California high school apologized to Jake Shelly for disciplining him on September 16, 2008. For the school’s hippie dress-up day during Homecoming Week, Jake wore a tie-dyed American flag T-shirt with the words “United States of America, Washington, D.C.” on it.
He was ordered to take it off and put on a bright yellow shirt proclaiming “DCV: Dress Code Violator” for the rest of the day. The following day, students wore red, white and blue clothing the next day in support of David. The administration publicly apologized to David admitting the mistake. Apparently a new vice-principal misread the dress code.
