Hi,

My professor in my American Constitutional Law class put a stipulation in the syllabus “No sunglasses, hats, hoods, or other recreational headgear may be worn in class.” I argued that it violated my first amendment right to freedom of expression. I provided him a court case, but he said it was a public school, which had no grounds in a private college. I have been searching LexisNexis for court cases, when I came across this page and a stipulation that Judge Tom wrote about in his post “Do school dress codes violate students’ First Amendment rights,” where he says, “private school have to abide by this law as long as they get federal funding for programs or students.” So my question is do private college and universities have to abide by this symbolic speech meaning and does not being able to wear a hat or hood violate a students first amendment rights?

Thanks so much in advance for taking the time to respond.

Dustin