This study explores the racial pedagogical decision making of teachers presented with the opportunity to address the #BlackLivesMatter movement in their classroom. Findings of more than 4,000 teachers indicate that suburban, urban, African American and Latino/a were most likely to address BLM through an antiracist positioning. Rural and more…

This report provides a broad overview of the history and recent controversies surrounding safe space, and explains the variation of how safe space is defined or enacted at campus, division, and classroom levels within institutions. This brief is designed to give policymakers a broader perspective on safe spaces and the different ways that people…

In this article, we offer an analysis of how institutions of higher education have responded to occurrences related to racism in educational contexts and the larger society. Since the initial drafting of this manuscript, continued police brutality and racially motivated tragedies have prompted protests and uprising across the US and the world,…

In 2015, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) celebrated 20 years of hard-charging higher education reform. Once a lone voice in the wilderness, ACTA is now leading the charge in their vigorous campaign to restore academic excellence, academic freedom, and accountability to American higher education. Core curricula, accreditation…

In late 1987, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White circulated a draft opinion to his colleagues in a case about whether high school journalists had the right to be free of interference from school administrators. His opinion in the case, "Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier," sided with Missouri administrators who some four years…

Cyberbullying has been identified by school leaders and researchers as one of the most serious adverse consequences of incorporating information technology into the classroom. This article examines the legal status of cyberbullying by conducting an analysis of selected federal appellate court opinions. This analysis identifies a set of legal…

Support for student expression and First Amendment attitudes were measured among Missouri high school principals (n = 86). Findings demonstrated that the third-person effect was a significant predictor of these attitudes. The more principals perceived mass media to affect others over themselves, the less supportive they were for student free…

In 2006, a bill was submitted in the Missouri Legislature designed to address issues raised during a lawsuit by a Missouri State University social work student contesting requirements that Missouri public colleges and universities take steps to insure tolerance of diverse perspectives in the classroom and on campus. Although the legislation did…

Young people have long sported T-shirts that schools wish they'd leave at home. Legal fights have been waged in recent years, for example, over shirts about guns, abortion, the Confederate battle flag, and the war in Iraq. But at a time when gay rights remains a divisive and unsettled issue nationally, a recent spate of disputes over T-shirts on…

Describes a midwestern high school's serious student publications program. Over the past 20 years, students here have published major stories on incest, homosexuality, teen pregnancy, cheating, divorce, fatal illness, and other topics without prepublication scrutiny by the principal. Recommendations are provided to ensure fair coverage, relevant…

Engaging students requires giving them a say in what they learn and how they will learn it. However, in strictly disciplined, rule-bound schools with test-driven curricula, this cannot happen. Edison Schools, Inc., a for-profit Education Management Organization (EMO), and Confluence Academy, an Edison-run school located in one of the most…

To examine how the Hazelwood decision (Hazelwood School District versus Kuhlmeier) affected high school advisers' views of their role in controlling content in their school newspapers and what they see as objectionable content, a study surveyed 100 Missouri high school advisers randomly selected from a list of 573 Missouri public high schools…

Discusses the potential of the Supreme Court's recent decision in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, which upheld the Missouri anti-abortion statutes, to encourage state sponsored fiscal censorship in libraries. The types of library services and materials that might be affected are identified, and the First Amendment implications are…

This study examined the relationship between school newspaper advisers and principals in Missouri high schools to determine whether the quality of this relationship affects freedom of expression in school newspapers. Responses on a questionnaire concerning principal's management style, adviser's job satisfaction, and communication conditions were…

High school journalism advisers and principals in Missouri responded to questionnaires designed to discover the relationship between job satisfaction for journalism advisers and freedom of expression permitted in the school newspaper. The responses of 88 pairs were used to allow for a study of the adviser/principal relationship as it pertained to…