Common Sense Needed in Bracelet Controversy

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:35:59 GMT

By Jon Zander ‘11

Jess Bujok

Across the country, many schools have banned certain rubber bracelets claiming that they are inappropriate and too sexual. “I (Heart) Boobies ” is what these bracelets have printed across them and they have become increasingly popular within the past few years. The bracelets are sold for about $4 a piece and money from the sale goes to the Keep a Breast foundation for breast cancer. The bracelets were designed to raise awareness for a serious cause and that is exactly what they are doing, however the conflict arising from these new bracelets is that many schools have begun banning them and even suspending students who wear them. One such school in Easton, Pa, has been taken to court by two students who were suspended for refusing to take off the bracelets on October 28th: Breast Cancer Awareness Day. The school’s reasoning for the ban, according to the suit, was that the bracelets caused “disruption” and “defiance/disrespect.” The students argument is that the bracelets didn’t cause the “substantial and material disruption” of school operations legally necessary to justify a ban. The suit calls the district’s dress code against clothing “in poor taste” overbroad. They claim that the school is overstepping its boundaries. In its efforts to regulate student speech, the district trampled the middle schoolers’ First Amendment rights, the suit says. There have been many cases like this in the past. Cases involving students supporting causes in controversial ways have been around since Vietnam (Tinker v. Des Moines). However, these issues have not lost importance. The students suing the Easton Area School District will most likely win their case due to one definitive factor. The bracelets contain “socially redeeming value” which means that even though they may cause an off topic discussion in a class room the topic of that conversation will bring about awareness for breast cancer and therefore it is socially redeeming and a worthwhile digression, not an inappropriate distraction. Our own Upper Perkiomen Middle School has asked students to turn the bracelets inside out while they are in the building; while this could still be seen by some as an infringement of the 1st Amendment, they are making a good decision on withholding from a full ban of the bracelets. It will be interesting to see how this case plays out and how schools across the nation will react to its verdict.

Tribal Tribune

Common Sense Needed in Bracelet Controversy