Introduction

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently filed a lawsuit against the school board and principle of two Indiana high school students for making the students apologize to all males sports coaches, participate in counseling sessions, and miss participating in twenty-five percent of their sports for posting sexually suggestive picture on their MySpace page. The two females’ names have not been released due to the fact that they are underage. The ACLU believes the school violated the two female students’ First Amendment rights because the pictures that were sexually suggestive were not taken during the school year, at school or at a school function. The pictures were taken at a summer slumber party and the girls were photographed licking in a sexual way big multi-colored lollipops and pictures of the girls in sexy lingerie with dollars bills stuck in the lingerie. The pictures were taken as a joke at the slumber party and were only meant for friends to see. Reports say that someone printed out the pictures and took the picture to the school officials and that is when the punishment happened. Since the pictures were not taken at school, did not involve the school and were not even taken during the school year is what makes the ACLU believe that First Amendment rights of the teens were violated. Since more and more social networks are becoming for active among teens and early adults, I believe this is a topic most people would be interested in reading and researching. MySpace is no longer the only social networking site. Internet users can now use other sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Bebo. My research question is “Was Churubusco High School violating the two female students’ First Amendment rights for punishing them over some pictures that were posted on their MySpace page?”