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3rd Circuit Says Student Has Right to Wear 'Redneck' T-shirt Shannon P. Duffy The Legal Intelligencer School officials cannot invoke a racial harassment policy to prohibit a high school student from wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with 'redneck' jokes by comedian Jeff Foxworthy unless there is proof that the shirt caused disruptions, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. In Sypniewski v. Warren Hills [N.J.] Regional Board of Education, the court stopped short of striking down the harassment policy, but found that school officials went too far when they banned speech or clothing that 'creates ill will or hatred.' Third Circuit Judge Anthony J. Scirica found that the school district had valid reasons for creating the policy because there had been a series of racially divisive incidents sparked by white students who wore clothing with the Confederate flag. 'When there is a concrete basis -- ordinarily established by a history of disruption and interference with the legitimate rights of other students -- for concluding that certain expression presents a well-founded fear of disruption, a school should be free to address the issue by adopting a formal policy, so long as the policy narrowly targets the identified problems,' Scirica wrote. But Scirica found that the policy went too far when it banned not only 'racially divisive' speech, but also speech that 'creates ill will.' 'When policies focus broadly on listeners' reactions, without providing a basis for limiting application to disruptive expression, they are likely to cover a substantial amount of protected speech. Here, the inclusion of the phrase 'creates ill will' causes just such a problem,' Scirica wrote. Scirica found that Warren Hills, N.J., school officials 'made a good faith effort to respond to a serious disciplinary problem without unduly restricting students' expression.' Nevertheless, he said, 'the application of the policy to the Foxworthy T-shirt appears to go too far.
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