Confederate prom dress doesn’t pass muster
It’s not often that a prom dress triggers a First Amendment controversy, but a Tennessee high school student’s attire did just that.
Gibson County High School student Texanna Edwards was turned away from her high school prom on Saturday night, April 21, because she was wearing a dress that bore a striking resemblance to a Confederate flag. According to the Jackson Sun, school administrators viewed the dress as inappropriate and potentially offensive.
It’s not unusual for public school administrators to infringe on free-speech rights of students. Too often student expression is limited because of the potential for embarrassment and not a genuine fear of disruption.
In this case, though, the school has the law on its side. Few symbols are potentially more divisive than the Confederate flag. On one side are those who value the flag as a symbol of Southern heritage. Others see it as a racist symbol. A teacher had alerted Edwards that her dress might not be permitted at the prom two months before the event, but Edwards persisted with her plan.
The Supreme Court has found that students’ expression — which includes what they wear — can be limited by school officials only if there’s a likelihood of substantial disruption. That test is probably met in this case.
Of course, if Edwards’ fashion statement was intended to make a political statement, then there are other avenues available to her. Given the press coverage of her thought-provoking dress, she now has a platform to share her views and no school administrator can stand in her way.
Tags: Confederate flag, public school, student expression, student speech
7 Responses to “Confederate prom dress doesn’t pass muster”
The First Amendment Center is an educational organization and cannot provide legal advice.
Ken Paulson is president and chief executive officer of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and in Washington, D.C. Previously, Paulson served as the editor and senior vice president/news of USA Today.
Gene Policinski, senior vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center and president and chief operating officer of the Diversity Institute, is a veteran journalist whose career has included work in newspapers, radio, television and online.
John Seigenthaler founded the First Amendment Center in 1991 with the mission of creating national discussion, dialogue and debate about First Amendment rights and values.
Dr. Charles C. Haynes is director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum. He writes and speaks extensively on religious liberty and religion in American public life.
David L. Hudson Jr. is an expert in First Amendment issues who writes for firstamendmentcenter.org and for other publications. Hudson teaches law and was a scholar at the First Amendment Center.
Tiffany Villager is director/First Amendment studies at the First Amendment Center, which she joined in 1993. She also served as the center’s research manager and research coordinator, and developed the center’s library.
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It’s disgusting that a high school student should choose to model her prom dress on the Confederate flag, but I would not be so quick to dismiss her right to wear the dress to the prom. In deciding whether to
throw her out, the administrators should consider carefully if the atmosphere at the school was such that they could reasonably forecast that students would become riled and words would prime violence.
In most cases, it would be best, if disruption could be reasonably discounted, to allow the expression and students to counter the symbolism with their own words of protest.
I stand by this.
update…
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You didn’t really investigate this, you are Jumping to conclusions here. No reason to believe just because it is a Confederate Flag there would be protest. Maybe in the North, but the South is Black and White.
I feel you do a disservice to the local black population to assume they would not like the Confederate Flag. Some of them have been interviewed and see nothing wrong with her wearing it to the prom. They said, lots of people wear lots of different things and the school doesn’t ban them.
This hatred of our Confederate American Flag was started in the 1990s by the naacp and they have a jihad going against it. Not every black person follows what the naacp says as the gospel.
Oooo snap. you tell em.
Does anything pro-Confederate “pass muster”, buster?