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6 the hourglass | May/june 2021FREE SPEECH AND SOCIAL MEDIABy MARIN HORWITZ ‘24Brandi Levy, a high school sophomorefrom Schuylkill County, PA,was suspended from cheerleading ather school because she posted a pictureof her and a friend in a grocery store,with obscene language and gestures, expressingher anger towards her school.So she sued her school. This was inSeptember of 2017, and since then, thislocal case has been heard by the US SupremeCourt. But even the highest courthas had a hard time deciding Levy’s rightto free speech relative to social media.Levy’s is the most recent case thatconcerns social media and the First Amendment,but that does not mean it is the first.In 1997, the Supreme Court heardReno v. ACLU, a challenge to the CommunicationsDecency Act (CDA) thatpenalized online speech that is deemedoffensive; ACLU argued that the Act wasunconstitutional. The Supreme Courtagreed. Justice John Paul Stevens wrotethat “the interest in encouraging freedomof expression in a democratic societyoutweighs any theoretical but unprovenbenefit of censorship.” The decision declaredthat the “internet” is like print media,meaning posters on social media havejust as much protection as a newspaper.But there’s a difference. Typically,when one writes for a newspaper or pamphlet,there are people who fact-check thewriting; when on social media, however,one only has to type and post. Social mediagives everyone a platform; views thatwere discussed at a dreaded Thanksgivingdinner can now be broadcasted to thewhole world. Most of us wouldn’t haveaccess to a newspaper to share our views,but we do have Twitter and Facebook;these platforms provide spaces for peopleto state their beliefs, based on fact or not.This leads to the spread of misinformation.Debating peoples’ opinionsisn’t illegal; only when those discussionslead to violence does it become illegal.Because social media is protected underthe First Amendment, the governmentessentially leaves it up to the platformsto monitor and censor their users’ posts,leaving the question: how do they do this?The answer is the “Terms and Conditions”waiver that every user has to signbefore using some platforms. The waiverallows companies to put limits on whatthe users can post or say, and punishesrule breakers accordingly. For example,Twitter suspended Donald Trump’s account,muting him on the platform permanently,citing that he violated their“Glorification of Violence policy” byhelping to incite the riot on January 6th.On the other hand, Parler, a platformthat the Capitol rioters used to organize,calls itself an “unbiased social media” anda platform where users can “speak freelyand express [themselves] openly, withoutfear of being ‘deplatformed’ for [their]views.” Compared to Twitter, Parler hasshorter guidelines for their community.For this reason, Parler has become popularfor far-right conservatives. Jack Nicasfrom the New York Times noted this migrationto alternative social media platforms:“Millions of people on the far right [have]flocked to the platform over what they[perceive] as censorship of conservativevoices by Facebook, Twitter, and Google”.In 2021, people don’t just talk or reador write about their views and opinions;they post about them, and Brandi Levy wasone of those people. On June 23rd, the SupremeCourt ruled 8-1 in her favor, sayingthat unless a student’s off-campus speechgenuinely harms the school, its atmosphere,or other students, a school can not punishits students for what they say off-campus.The First Amendment protects ourright to free speech, and social media isalways pushing the boundaries of what itprotects, making it just as quintessentialnow as it was when it was first written.Private schools andthe first amendment:HOW ATTENDING A PRIVATESCHOOL AFFECTSOUR FREEDOM OF SPEECHBy KATIE MCMAHON ‘22Picture yourself sitting in a 10thgradehistory class learning aboutthe First Amendment. I’m picturingit, and I don’t remember learning that we,at a private school, can have our freedomof speech limited while we are at Baldwin.When I think about the FirstAmendment, I think about what I did learn:how freedom of speech, press, religion,assembly, and petition shape the UnitedStates. Surprisingly, at Baldwin, we canbe censored for exercising these rights.Although we technically still holdour First Amendment rights like freedomof speech at Baldwin, this doesn’t mean weexperience it the same way as public schoolstudents. While the state cannot punishstudents for wearing political t-shirts orholding a protest at school, Baldwin couldban those activities. We would not be protectedby the First Amendment becausesince Baldwin is a private school, we havelegally agreed to follow Baldwin’s rules.When I think about “What makesBaldwin, Baldwin?,” I think about theoutspoken student body and their stronglyheld ideas. When I consider how we couldbe silenced or censored and are powerlessto do anything in response, it doesn’t seemright. In addition, the realization that Baldwinhas the legal right to censor almostanything that comes from the student bodycan subconsciously, or even consciously,negatively affect our expression of ideas.As opposed to Baldwin and otherprivate schools, First Amendment rightsare protected for public school students atschool. In one Supreme Court case, Tinkerv. Des Moines Independent CommunitySchool District, several high schoolstudents wore black armbands to class toprotest the Vietnam War and were senthome by the school. The students and theirparents sued the school, alleging that theirright of free expression was protected bythe First Amendment. The court decidedthat the armbands were a form of speechand prohibiting them did, in fact, violateFirst Amendment rights, stating that studentsdo not lose “freedom of speech orexpression at the schoolhouse gate.” Asfor Baldwin, if the administration decidedthat we could not express our viewsas in the Des Moines case, we wouldhave no recourse over their decision.So the big question I have is: Whycan’t we have the same level of freedomas those at a public school? While the answermay be that in legal terms, we havevoluntarily agreed to follow Baldwin’srules, I wonder why Baldwin can’t guaranteeus freedom of speech, within limitations,like those already present in theFirst Amendment itself. Although we maynot be continually censored or restrictedin our ideas and actions, the idea thatwe could be doesn’t sit right with me.In a study conducted by the FriedmanFoundation, the top five reasons why parentssend their children to private schoolsare “better student discipline,” “betterlearning environments,” “smaller classsizes,” “improved student safety,” and“more individual attention.” And here atBaldwin, we experience the benefits ofattending an all-girls private school everyday. We sit in a classroom where the teacherattentively listens to our viewpoint; weengage in debate. In a world where menpredominantly fill leadership positionsand boardrooms, we are lucky to learn inan environment that doesn’t adhere to thesocietal norm of men first, women second.But why do we have to sacrifice ourfreedom of expression in order to benefitfrom our Baldwin experience? Inour Baldwin community (or any privateschool across the country) we shouldn’tbe forced to choose between our independentschool education and the preservationof our freedom of speech.
centerfold 7By CAMILLE MURRAY ‘22Throughout 2020, schools in theUnited States worked hard tryingto make the safest possibleenvironment for their students,not just medically within the context ofthe pandemic, but also for Black andBrown students who were traumatizedby the racial violence and police brutalitythat ravaged cities across the country.Schools across America revisedtheir curriculums and established Diversity,Equity, and Inclusion committees.Every school had to look at themselvesinternally, determining how to create asupport system for minority students.Given Baldwin’s “progressive” environment,I anticipated that the schoolwould make a statement affirming itssupport for Black students as they dealtwith seeing a Black man’s life suckedout of him in nine minutes and twenty-nineseconds. After what seemed likeweeks, a statement on the Baldwin Instagrampage was published which didnot even include the phrase “Black LivesMatter.” I was very disappointed in thisperformative, cookie-cutter utterance.A flood of comments criticizing theschool poured in from current students andalumni; Baldwin disabled comments on thepost, a long-standing restriction on all oftheir posts that lasted until January 2021.Baldwin released a second, modified statement,and their initial, problematic statementwas put behind us as it sunk into theabyss of the Baldwin Instagram account.Now, in 2021, Baldwin has takenbaby steps to make amends with the Blackand Brown students they’ve hurt in the pastby hiring a new DEI director and creatinga new SDEI committee. However, we stillhave work to do, and to protect Black andBrown students, Baldwin must allow themto highlight what is wrong with the institutionin regards to racial and social justice.I wanted to write an Hourglass articlethat featured students reflecting onwhat Baldwin has done to advance racialand economic justice in our community.Racial and economic justice are closelyintertwined; one can’t be achievedwithout the other. However, I was afraid.Three years ago when I was acceptedinto Baldwin, I knew that cominghere and being a part of this communitywas a unique opportunity that I couldn’twaste; I didn’t want to squander it.Yet, I felt that if I had always spokenmy mind, I wouldn’t be able to anticipatethe reactions of the administration,my parents, or my friends. I was afraid ofthe repercussions of speaking my mind,and I couldn’t bring myself to write thisproposed article because I was so traumatizedby the earlier experiences whenBaldwin silenced Black and Brown voices.Free speech at Baldwin came intorelevance again when a local college student,Camille Samuels, was removed fromthe program of Building Bridges Day. Ms.Samuels was scheduled to speak about theroots of activism, intersectionality, performativeactivism, your purpose of activism,how to stay learning and avoiding burnout.She was also supposed to discuss one ofher personal examples of student activism,the Haverford College Strike. However,much to the frustration of the BuildingBridges Committee, she was cut from theschedule not even three days days beforeshe was anticipated to come. The talk wasrescheduled to a later date to give studentsmore space and time for processing therecent verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial.As a committee, we were furious.While we were incredibly thankful forour first speaker, A’Dorian Murray-Thomas,we were distraught that Ms. Samuelswas abruptly rescheduled and thusscrapped from the Building Bridges Dayprogram, which we had put so muchwork into organizing over the past year.The lack of fair warning and studentinput made myself and the committee feelunheard. As a student who actively paystuition and who has sometimes felt tokenizedat Baldwin for my Blackness, thisincident made me reflect on other waysin which I often feel insecure or unsafein expressing myself and my activism.I shouldn’t worry about my ideas being“too radical” or “too negative,” becauseactivism is not all sunshine and rainbows.Baldwin encourages its students tospeak up for what they believe in, but theminute a student, especially a Black one,speaks a single word that goes against Baldwin’sinterests, I’ll be perceived as the “angryBlack women”, a damaging stereotype.Baldwin must do better in protectingits Black and Brown students, and mustalso do more to ensure students are unafraidto stand up for what they believe in.I WANTED TOSPEAK MY MIND,BUT I FEAREDCoNSEQUENCESANDCENSoRSHIPDoes Baldwin truly encouragefree expression fromits students?Design by Anna Wang ‘22 and Sophie Cai ‘22Graphics by Sophie Cai ‘22Photography by Jaclyn Dichter ‘22and Izzy Antanavicius ‘22
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Page 3 and 4: opinion 3Learning Basic LifeSkills
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