MySpace, Web, Social Networking
Girls, ACLU Sue School Over Punishment for Racy MySpace Photos
Two teenage Indiana girls have sued their high school after the administration punished them for posting sexually suggestive photos of themselves on MySpace, the Associated Press reports. The ACLU, which is representing the two sophomores, argues that the school overstepped its bounds by handing down the punishment and, in so doing, violated the girls' rights to free speech. Attorneys with the ACLU also pointed out that the photos didn't involve the school, and that officials needlessly humiliated the two by making them apologize to an all-male board of coaches. The Supreme Court has previously ruled that schools do have the right to punish students for off-campus behavior, so long as the school can justify that the behavior was disruptive and that similar activities were likely to occur at the school, itself.In this particular case, the girls took photos during a sleepover held during their summer vacation and posted them on MySpace, adjusting the privacy settings so that only their friends could see them. Eventually, though, the photos circulated throughout the school, and, as some of them showed the lingerie-clad girls licking a phallic lollipop, Principal Austin Couch banned the girls from fall sports, and made them apologize and undergo counseling. According to Couch's attorney, he was simply enforcing the school's athletic code, which allows a principal to punish student athletes for any activity that "creates a disruptive influence on the discipline, good order, moral or educational environment at Churubusco High School."
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