BUZZ
‘Airing an opinion that might upset someone isn’t harassment’
A California high school junior suspended for posting pro-Immigration and Customs Enforcement flyers around school in response to an anti-ICE student walkout has had his discipline record rescinded after a free speech group intervened.
In mid-February, the Torrey Pines High School student’s flyers, which read “We ♥️ ICE — Real Americans,” resulted in his suspension for “harassment” and “intimidation,” according to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, aka FIRE.
KGTV reports the student said one school official told him the flyers, which were “displayed in a common area where other students have posted political material,” were “demonizing and hateful.”
Two weeks prior during a school-day anti-ICE student protest, several demonstrators held signs reading “If You’re an I.C.E. Agent Ya Mom’s a Hoe!!,” “FUCK ICE,” and “ICE is KKK spelled differently.”
FIRE’s Conor Fitzpatrick highlighted this, saying “They didn’t punish [those] students for engaging in their speech.”
After FIRE sent a letter “requesting documents” regarding the pro-ICE student’s suspension,” the district announced his discipline “was being expunged.”
“[T]he problem is that when this student used his First Amendment right to nondisruptively voice his opinion that was contrary to the protesters, they suspended him, and that’s where the First Amendment steps in,” Fitzpatrick added.
“Airing an opinion that might upset someone isn’t harassment, and it’s not fighting words.”
The student, who “was worried the suspension would impact his college applications,” said he felt “relieved and vindicated.”
He added that he hopes the whole situation “sends a message to other students to ‘not be afraid to stand up for what they believe in.’”
The student’s case was highlighted by former San Diego County Supervisor Candidate Amy Reichert, who on April 1 noted on X that Torrey Pines HS Principal Rob Coppo (pictured) had resigned eight days after her “viral post” regarding the suspension.
According to The San Diego Tribune, Coppo had “requested a reassignment within the San Dieguito Union High School District.” Regarding the student’s suspension, Coppo said it was “inaccurate” that a student would be disciplined “over political views.”
Coppo added “he was aware” of social media posts claiming he had resigned over the (suspension) controversy, but “chose not to engage.”
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