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Nassau Students Learn About Civil Liberties Through New Program

Posted October 21, 2010 by Samantha Fredrickson, Esq.

In 1965, three Iowa teens were suspended from school for wearing black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. They challenged those suspensions and the U.S. Supreme Court overturned them, declaring that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

The fight for student rights has evolved over the last 45 years. Developing technology and the increase in diversity among students, combined with school administrators who may not be fully aware of their students’ constitutionally protected rights, pose new and difficult challenges. 

In recent months, we’ve seen schools impose registration hurdles for immigrant students , teachers who punish students over text messages or Facebook postings, and principals who require students to recite religious prayers and songs.  We’ve also seen an increase in bias-based bullying and a lack of tolerance and respect in classrooms. 

That’s why the New York Civil Liberties Union is starting a new program in Nassau County called “Teaching About Civil Liberties.” Part of our mission is to educate area high school students about their rights, so that they are empowered to protect those rights. We also hope to educate a new generation of civil libertarians so that as they grow up and contribute to society they’ll think about the importance of the Bill of Rights and our civil liberties. 

Mary Beth and John Tinker protest the Vietnam war with armbands.

We’re currently developing curricula on a variety of topics – including immigrants’ rights, bias-based bullying and discrimination, and our shared freedoms of religion, speech, and privacy. And here at the Nassau chapter of our organization, we have a team of lawyers, law students, teachers, and dedicated volunteers who are ready to visit classrooms and lead workshops on these issues.

If you are a high school teacher or administrator and you’d like a guest speaker to come to your class and lead the students in a discussion about a civil liberties topic, just give us a call at 516-741-8520 or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). You pick a date, a time, and a topic and we’ll be ready. And if you’re a parent or a student who cares about civil liberties, then urge your teacher to call us and get involved with our program. 

We’ll see you in the classroom!


Samantha Fredrickson is the Nassau Chapter Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.


Image courtesy of alamosbasement via Flickr.

Tags : civil rights, education, nassau, nyclu, schools

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