When Does Free Speech Become Cyberbullying?

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There was an article published in the New York Times last week which discussed the case of Katherine Evans.  Katherine was displeased with her high school English teacher and posted about this displeasure on Facebook: “To those select students who have had the displeasure of having Ms. Sarah Phelps, or simply knowing her and her insane antics: Here is the place to express your feelings of hatred.”

Katherine apparently removed the post only after a few days, but a couple of months later was suspended by her school for “cyberbullying.”  [point of order: we typically do not refer to online harassment involving an adult as cyberbullying]  From the media reports, Katherine’s actions neither constituted a threat nor resulted in a disruption at school—the two common features of cyberbullying incidents that would warrant a significant formal response from the school.   Did Katherine cross the line?   Without question her actions were inappropriate.  Were they subject to discipline at school?  Maybe—but probably not suspension.  Students are allowed to criticize teachers and other school officials, again, as long as it is not threatening or disruptive to the school.  This can be a fine line indeed.  It will be interesting to see how the courts rule in this case.  My gut is telling me that the school could have handled this case differently, but I’m sure we do not have all of the details yet.  Stay tuned.

8 Comments

  1. I feel like schools commonly tend to error on the side of caution…in regards to faculty. Students who are believed to be in trouble are, more times than not, guilty before innocent…at least at my high/middle school. I don’t think her actions should be punished by suspension – overkill. Being criticized can "keep you honest," if you will. If there were a large number of students who agreed with Miss Evans, maybe Ms. Phelps's antics should be reviewed. If not, Miss Evans has some explaining to do. Is cyberbullying against school policy, or the law? …It’s a slippery slope and I am interested to hear what the outcome is.

    What I do know is, the site does say this is a “place to express your feelings of hatred.” What also could be construed as a place to vent. Release an individual’s anger over Ms. Phelps’s unfair “antics.” If a student is off campus complaining about how displeased she/he is with their teachers insane antics…how is that punishable? If it were a worker talking about their boss, could they be put on unpaid leave? Is this truly a “substantial disruption of the learning environment?” Students are taught to be the bigger person and walk away, can’t teachers lead by example? The actions are irresponsible, and should not go unnoticed, or unpunished….I think Miss Evans has a strong case….

  2. I feel like schools commonly tend to error on the side of caution…in regards to faculty. Students who are believed to be in trouble are, more times than not, guilty before innocent…at least at my high/middle school. I don’t think her actions should be punished by suspension – overkill. Being criticized can "keep you honest," if you will. If there were a large number of students who agreed with Miss Evans, maybe Ms. Phelps's antics should be reviewed. If not, Miss Evans has some explaining to do. Is cyberbullying against school policy, or the law? …It’s a slippery slope and I am interested to hear what the outcome is.

    What I do know is, the site does say this is a “place to express your feelings of hatred.” What also could be construed as a place to vent. Release an individual’s anger over Ms. Phelps’s unfair “antics.” If a student is off campus complaining about how displeased she/he is with their teachers insane antics…how is that punishable? If it were a worker talking about their boss, could they be put on unpaid leave? Is this truly a “substantial disruption of the learning environment?” Students are taught to be the bigger person and walk away, can’t teachers lead by example? The actions are irresponsible, and should not go unnoticed, or unpunished….I think Miss Evans has a strong case….

  3. Whether or not the student's actions can be deemed "cyberbullying" is debatable, since it's hard to know where to draw the line between free speech and cyberbullying. Does the fact that the comment was posted in a public forum, rather than in a private chat between two individuals make it cyberbullying? The public domain generates more of a hate group, whereas a private chat is more just venting to me. Either way, I think suspension is a bit harsh.

  4. Keeping with the facts….

    Miss Evans is an honor student and was in honors English. The site was open for merely three days, and voluntarily shut down after 3 students wrote in favor of the teacher on the site. The suspension was given two months later. She was also pulled from her honors classes!

    Aren't most blogs available to the public? And by public I mean to hundreds of friends and friends of friends, that most people haven't even met in person, on sites such as Facebook, and Myspace? Therefore is that punishable? Is there really that big of a difference?

    I sincerely hope Miss Evans case is seriously considered, and ruled in her favor. Schools are schools, private or public, and need to be respected and held to higher standards. Students have to be there in order to have success in life. Knowledge is power, and not to be abused with unreasonable punishment.

  5. I think that even if this was a teacher i still think you should respect adults and let your anger out in another less ofensive way. I would never do this even if any of my teachers are mean.

  6. I can see how easy it would be for a student to make a public posting seem within the boundaries of reasonable freedom of speech. Ms. Evans initial posting did not appear to be crossing the line of being disruptive to the school environment or threatening; however, all to often we see how these types of posts can escalate very quickly into something much more serious resulting in slander, hate, and even threats.

    Although this instance of late punishment may seem a little excessive, it is important to keep in mind that our students should be held accountable for their actions and we as teachers, parents, and school officials need to ensure we are educating our students/children about what constitutes appropriate use.

  7. I read about a student who made fun of his teacher online. I get that he has the freedom of speech but at the same time I wonder who thought of suing. See I think that that’s the problem with our society today, there are too many parents standing behind their children when they don’t do the right thing. Granted this teacher might be someone in the school that is hard to deal with, but where are our morals? What do we teach our kids. I also think that there are too many babies raising babies. People are mature themselves and our raising kids. But that’s a totally different argument for another class and day. So for this student’s parents to sue was beyond me, because I think I would have let my child suffer the consequences of disrespecting an adult. I just think that freedom of speech was bologna because at the end of the day values and morals should play a part in your household.

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