Censorship and Student Communication in Online and Offline Settings

Authors Oluwole and Green present students, academics, and researchers with an examination of the student’s right to free speech in a variety of on-campus and off-campus settings. The authors have organized the sixteen chapters that make up the main body of their text in five parts devoted to context, unprotected speech, student free speech and the U.S. Supreme Court, lower courts and off-campus speech, and the authors’ reflections.

A comprehensive text for scholars in school law who are studying First Amendment speech issues. Combines a historical basis of the seminal cases in student speech rights with up to date topics such as cyber speech. Organized into comprehensive units of student speech. Each chapter begins with the sequence of seminal cases that formed and framed the law regarding speech. Chapters are complete with an array of speech cases and defines those cases. Sequentially, the chapters proceed to the current era. A great way to study each aspect of student speech within a logical framework. Comprehensive text for students who are studying student speech rights. It is reader-friendly through the organization and content and maintains reader interest. The "stories" at the end of the text are particularly meaningful for teaching exercises. All aspects of student speech are addressed and the content leaves no aspect of student speech unaddressed. This text would be useful to graduate students who are learning the law and seek in depth analysis in First Amendment speech issues.

The book is well organized and has well-researched content. A strength of this book is that it not only has a thorough review of student speech jurisprudence, but it also describes each element’s relevance to off-campus speech. The narrative builds through the sections (and individual chapters) to support the authors’ conclusion that student off campus speech should not be regulated unless it represents a true threat. Moreover, in addition to the in depth discussion of the guiding legal principles, the book contains two chapters that describe actual student legal disputes on speech issues. This provides readers with both an overall understanding of the relevant law and a specific understanding of how this plays out in schools.
Highly Recommended. Oluwole and Green’s book, Censorship and Communication in Online and Offline Settings, brings a great deal of clarity to an unsettled area of education jurisprudence. The work provides a thorough review of the current status of the law on student speech in general and online speech in particular. What is unique about this book is that in addition to an in depth discussion of the guiding legal principles, which provides a strong understanding of the law for anyone who reads it, it also contains two chapters that describe many actual legal disputes on student speech issues. This means that it provides both foundational and practical knowledge on the topic. The authors also suggest a new direction for school districts to consider in regulating student speech that moves away from a reliance on censorship of student online speech and better embraces the underlying Free Speech principles.
Anyone wanting an in-depth understanding of issues related to student free speech rights in educational settings (both on and off campus). This includes professors, attorneys, and K-12 educational administrators.

Censorship and Student Communication in Online and Offline Settings is that rare book that carefully furnishes the reader with all issues associated with student communication in the social media age. The reader is treated with a comprehensive array of all legal developments in the area of student speech, from Tinker v. Des Moines to current attempts to curb bullying. This is a highly-recommended book because it provides educational practitioners and policy-makers with all the information necessary to shape sound pedagogical and legal policy regarding student speech issues. [The publication is aimed toward] educational administrators; board members; teachers; and higher education programs in educational leadership and student rights.