A group of white high school students from Dallas's Mockingbird High school were visiting Texas A&M University
Question:
A group of white high school students from Dallas's Mockingbird High school were visiting
Texas A&M University as part of their schools program "Road to College" program. These
students attended a class on American History, which presented slavery as an essential issue to
the civil war and argued that Texas's leaders at that time exhibited racist tendencies in their
failure to support Lincoln's proclamation of equality.
One student, Emma Gunnin, a descendant of Jim "Tex" Gunnin, a hero of the confederacy, was
in the visiting group. She had on confederate flag earrings, and a shirt with a confederate battle
flag on it saying "Southern Pride". When the class was over she approached a group of students
surrounding the professor, who was African American, and many students who were
predominately African American and Hispanics. Emma said "Do you like my earrings"? And
then continued with "How about my shirt". Two other students from Emma's class joined the
conversation, holding a notebook with a Donald Trump bumper sticker on it, and began using
racial epitaths, saying to the professor "Why don't you go back to Africa where you came
from" and then turned to some students and said "Stupid wetbacks, you can't even get your
papers! Wait until that wall comes up!" amongst other things. They continued to harass and taunt the professor and college students saying they would never want to go to college where liberal lies were taught by stupid and biased professors to students who can't think for themselves. At that point, another friend showed up to tell them it was lunch time, as they left Emma turned around and said: "maybe when you graduate you can get a job picking vegetables for my family".
When the superintendent from Mockingbird high school heard about their behavior she
suspended Emma and her two friends for 30 days. Emma, and her parents, sued the school
saying they violated her first amendment rights and quelled her educational experience, and have harmed her chances to get into a college. Is this a violation of her freedom of speech?
Expert Answer:
