Free Speech Party
by Christine Stuart | October 14, 2007 11:23 PM
Posted to Legal
Lewis S. Mills High School student, Avery Doninger, said she knows a lot more people now than she did before filing a civil rights lawsuit against school officials and a crowded room at the Litchfield Inn Sunday seemed to prove it.
More than a hundred of Doninger’s old friends and new acquaintances showed up Sunday to help her raise money to continue her legal battle against school officials, who removed her as class secretary and banned her from running for re-election after discovering she called them “douchebags ” in an online journal.
In August, U.S. District Court Judge Mark R. Kravitz denied Doninger’s request for an preliminary injunction against school officials, but her attorney Jon Schoenhorn said Sunday that he will appeal the case to the Second Circuit Court in New York. He said the goal is to get Doninger reinstated as class secretary by the end of the year, so she can speak at graduation in 2008.
This case, “has a chilling effect on the first amendment rights of students who now have to be afraid to speak out in their own homes,” Schoenhorn said. “What kind of citizen does that built?”
Poets and writers from across the state came to read their most incendiary works in support of Doninger and her cause.
Amy Ma, the youngest poet in attendance, said she met Doninger about a month ago and the two are now Facebook friends. She said Doninger is an “extremely engaged” young woman who knows the difference between “shouldn’t have said something and doesn’t have the right to say something.”
Ma, who is working towards her teaching certificate, said for a school administrator to go into a student’s personal blog and use the things she’s written about against her is wrong.
Overwhelmed by the turnout Sunday, Avery said she didn’t think the fundraiser or the lawsuit was going to be as “big” as it was. She said she has a greater appreciation of her civil rights and wants to make sure other kids know they are protected by the first amendment. She said before the lawsuit she knew she had rights, “I just never had to use them to defend myself.”
To read more about the party check out Aldon Hynes’ blog Orient-Lodge.com or Andy Thibault’s blog The Cool Justice Report.
Comments (4)
Posted by: Rocco J. Frank Jr. | October 15, 2007 11:20 PM
It is very nice to see that "Free Speech" is alive and well at the party mentioned in this article.
One thing I would hope is clear is encouragement that these young people pursue awareness of how "Big brother" views free speech.
Most recently, and a case in point, is Dan Rather's expulsion for expressing his free speech against the Bush Administration.
The CIA, also has its stake in free speech, through Bush 1 and "Operation Mocking Bird." (No longer a conspiracy theory thanks to the Freedom of Information act.)
But most importantly we must be positive and state at least one major victory. That is Don Imus, his Multi Million dollar lawsuit/reward, paid 6 month vacation and now a vocal and open Hillary opposer.
The message here is speak the truth about 9/11 and you get what Dan Rather got.
Be an open air racist on the radio, get a 6 month paid vacation, a multimillion dollar settlement and a new job that pays even better than the last.
With this said, how do we even effectively communicate "Free Speech" to young people? and do they know that less than 6 companies control all the news?
Have they heard of Rupert Murdock and his media empire?
Rfrank118.com
Posted by: doug | October 16, 2007 10:53 AM
Free speech comes with responsibility, too, and Ms. Doninger -- much like her appropriateness-challenged generation -- should be held responsible for their comments and photographs and other nonsense posted willy-nilly on the Internet.
However, the punishment should fit offense and she should have been asked to write a letter of apology for her comment, rather than the garbage that led to her current legal entanglement.
The folks who run the school district are the gestapo in Ms. Doninger's case. They should be fired. They've cost the town a fortune in legal fees and an untold smear of public embarrassment.
I wouldn't worry about Don Imus. His immediate audience has likley diminished, and certainly he is not generating new listeners in large numbers. Shame on WABC for hiring him.
Posted by: lothar | October 16, 2007 12:26 PM
Here's where we've come in America, in terms of free speech:
Pa. woman cited for yelling obscenities at toilet in her home
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) -- Talk about a potty mouth.
A Scranton woman who allegedly shouted profanities at her overflowing toilet within earshot of a neighbor was cited for disorderly conduct, authorities said.
Dawn Herb could face up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $300.
"It doesn't make any sense. I was in my house. It's not like I was outside or drunk," Herb told The Times-Tribune of Scranton. "The toilet was overflowing and leaking down into the kitchen and I was yelling (for my daughter) to get the mop."
Herb doesn't recall exactly what she said, but she admitted letting more than a few choice words fly near an open bathroom window Thursday night.
Her next-door neighbor, a city police officer who was off-duty at the time, asked her to keep it down, police said. When she continued, the officer called police.
Mary Catherine Roper, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Philadelphia, took issue with the citation.
"You can't prosecute somebody for swearing at a cop or a toilet," she said.
Posted by: kerri | October 21, 2007 10:25 AM
I think that she's wasting her time on this. It's not "right" for a school to be spying on students outside, but here is lesson #1-- a person's character is defined how they behave all of the time, not just in the venue where they are trying to gain some kind of power. If a politician makes a racist comment at a private party, then I think that has some bearing. It's good that this student has acknowledged that what she said was inappropriate, but maybe she needs to move on. There are much bigger problems in the world (maybe not in her world, but in the world) than getting into some trouble for name-calling. A real leader would recognize that and deflect the attention off of him/herself. One would hope that the adults in her life are encouraging her to do just that.