Cyberbullying, Free Speech, and School Discipline: Can We Protect Students in Constitutional and Just Ways?

Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/27/2016
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Over and over again, we see stories in the news of bullied students taking their own lives or turning to other drastic measures to escape bullies. Because of this, state legislatures and school boards have created statutes and policies to address bullying and cyberbullying. In June North Carolina’s own cyberbullying statute was struck down by the state Supreme Court as violating the First Amendment. Additionally, zero tolerance policies – including those addressing bullying – have been linked to the school-to-prison pipeline. These issues raise the question of how states and schools can address bullying and cyberbullying in ways that are both constitutional and ensure justice for all children.

These will be the panelists:

• Barbara Fedders, assistant professor in the UNC School of Law and co-director of the School’s Youth Justice Clinic.
• Susanna Birdsong, policy counsel for the ACLU-NC.
• Jen Story, supervising attorney at Legal Aid Advocates for Children’s Services
• Chanda Marlowe, former high school teacher and current fourth year dual-degree student earning a master’s in mass communication and a law degree
• David Ardia, assistant professor in the UNC School of Law and co-director of the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy, will serve as the moderator.

The event is being organized by Lindsie Trego, president of Media Law Society, a student group in the UNC School of Law. She also is a third-year student in a dual-degree program in which she will earn a law degree and a master’s in mass communication.