Dearborn Heights student's T-shirt reignites debate over free-speech rights

February 25, 2003

BY NIRAJ WARIKOO AND JOEL THURTELL

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

Bretton Barber isn't your typical 16-year-old.

PRIOR DEBATES
Some other freedom-of-expression issues at high schools in recent years:
* The face of Jesus: People argued in Bloomingdale, Mich., in 1995 over a dozen tiny pictures of Jesus' face that replaced a large portrait of Jesus that Bloomingdale Public Schools officials were forced to take down under a federal court order.

* The star of David: School officials in Mendon, near Kalamazoo, forbade David Vaughn from wearing the six-pointed Jewish symbol. The officials were skittish because police had warned them that gang members had adopted the stars.

Compiled by Free Press staff

Every July 4, he hands out copies of the Declaration of Independence to family and friends, asking them to read a portion out loud at their annual Independence Day parties.

And last week, he went to school at Dearborn High School sporting a T-shirt with a picture of President George W. Bush sandwiched between the words International Terrorist. Bretton, who considers himself a libertarian, was told to turn his shirt inside out or go home.

He chose to go home, unintentionally renewing a nationwide debate over students' rights to free expression reminiscent of the Vietnam War era. As the country inches closer to a war with Iraq, that debate has become especially relevant.

John Artis, superintendent for Dearborn Public Schools, said school officials must create an environment that is conducive to learning.

Bretton of Dearborn Heights maintains his T-shirt wasn't disruptive.

I didn't expect all this to happen, he said Monday. I just wanted to wear a T-shirt that would emphasize my antiwar message.

Last month, 86 students at a Washington, D.C., high school were sent to detention after they walked out of school to protest war. And in Minnesota, a 16-year-old organized a controversial antiwar protest in a small town that drew the ire of longtime residents.

On Friday, the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) -- of which Bretton is a member -- announced it is supporting his right to free speech and is talking with Dearborn school officials about the district's policies.

But school officials in Dearborn and other districts say antiwar T-shirts hinder their primary responsibility, which is educating kids in a safe environment.

High school is where emotions and hormones run high, said Robert Freehan, an official with the Warren Consolidated School District. Wearing inflammatory T-shirts can be like yelling 'Fire' in a crowded theater.

In most schools in Michigan, administrators don't let students wear shirts that advertise alcohol or drugs, or are sexually explicit. But when it comes to political expression, there's some leeway.

In Warren schools, for example, kids can wear political buttons expressing support for a candidate or party, provided they're in good taste.

But what exactly good taste is can be hard to define.

In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an often-quoted decision that a student's rights to free speech don't end at the schoolhouse gate.

That case involved students in Des Moines, Iowa, who wore black armbands to school protesting the Vietnam War. The school suspended them, but the Supreme Court ruled against the school district.

That decision preserves the right to free political expression, legal experts say. But through the years, various rulings have said that other forms of student expression -- involving sex, for example -- may be prohibited.

Robert Sedler, a professor of constitutional law at Wayne State University, said it appears the Dearborn student is within his rights.

He has a right to protest the United States policy on Iraq, Sedler said, just as students had a right to protest the Vietnam War 30 years ago.

In 1999, Sedler defended the right of a Lincoln Park student to wear a pentagram to school as a symbol of her religion -- called Wicca -- whose members are sometimes called witches. Under a settlement, the school agreed to allow the student, Crystal Seifferly, to wear the symbol.

Compounding the debate is the explosive growth over the last decade of immigrant populations in metro Detroit, a factor school officials say they must consider when enforcing dress codes.

In Warren, for example, there has been a huge increase in the number of students from the Balkan region, Freehan said. With Serbians, Croatians and Bosnians roaming the hallways, would it be sound policy to allow someone to wear a T-shirt that slams a particular Balkan leader, officials there asked?

Bretton said Monday he still doesn't know what all the fuss is about. He says he wore the shirt for three hours on Feb. 17 and didn't get a single complaint from students or teachers. It wasn't until the vice principal spotted it that his attire became a problem.

The rift ignited an international news flurry. Newspapers from British Columbia to Florida to Britain carried stories about the shirt. He appeared on CNN, where Connie Chung chided him for dodging her question about whether he really considers Bush a terrorist.

Bretton was likewise elusive on Monday, saying his T-shirt was less about an attack on Bush and more about antiwar views.

He said he has been politically active since the seventh grade, when he started reading the New York Times daily.

Late in December, he said his sister told him about a Web site where the T-shirt was selling for $18. He bought one and thought: Wouldn't this be cool to wear to school?

Contact NIRAJ WARIKOO at 734-432-6501 or warikoo@freepress.com. Staff writer Melanie Scott contributed to this report.

from The Detroit Free Press