EDITORIAL – Local suit brings free speech debate

Kids these days. Give ’em a computer and an Internet connection and they’ll get themselves… Kids these days. Give ’em a computer and an Internet connection and they’ll get themselves in a world of trouble.

Like many of his peers, Justin Layshock created a MySpace account with a relative’s computer. Layshock – who was a high school senior at Hickory High School in Mercer County when the page was created in 2005 – didn’t create a page about himself or his interests. Instead, he chose to create a spoof profile for his high school principal, Eric Trosch, that didn’t exactly portray the administrator as a respected official. According to an article in the Post-Gazette, Layshock used words like “big faggot” and “big steroid freak” to describe Trosch, insinuated that he used marijuana and lifted pictures of the principal from the school district’s Web site to create the page. Layshock claims that it was an obvious parody.

When the site was discovered, Trosch called a meeting with faculty – in which he was incredibly emotional – and turned off the computers in the school to “protect” students. It’s arguable whether or not his actions actually brought more attention to the issue.

MySpace deleted the page upon the request of Trosch, and Layshock, after owning up to being the page’s creator, offered an apology. Anonymous users, who are probably students, also created two other pages disparaging Trosch, in addition to Layshock’s creation.

Layshock was expelled for 10 days for causing disruption at school and was sent to alternative school by administrators. According to Layshock, the school district went a step further by contacting Penn State and alerting them about the disciplinary action taken against Layshock, now a freshman at St. John’s University. Penn State held Layshock’s application, pending an investigation. Layshock is alleging that the district violated confidentiality laws by taking this action.

Layshock and his parents are suing for monetary damages because they believe that the school district violated his rights under the first amendment. Trosch believes that Layshock is rude and that the MySpace was defaming and libelous.

A federal judge will decide whether the Hermitage School District’s actions against Layshock were warranted. The question is whether or not the first amendment will protect Layshock’s crude profile as free speech. Lawyers for the district want the suit dismissed, sighting that the language of Layshock’s MySpace page was “defamatory” and thus isn’t protected by free speech.

We’ll be surprised if Layshock’s lawyers can make a good case for free speech in this case, especially because of the precedent it would set for the rest of the country. If the judge finds that free speech was violated, it would make it possible for students across the country to make similar pages, filling the Internet with defaming and untrue information.

However, it seems that Trosch’s actions were a little rash in turning off the school’s computers – certainly the school has a filtering system to block Web sites like MySpace. It’s understandable that he would be impassioned about the comments made on the MySpace pages, but it’s possible that he inflated the issue with his actions.

As for Layshock, suspension was probably warranted, but his admission of guilt and apology should be taken into consideration – after all, he was the only one who stepped up and admitted that he’d created one of the three pages. If Layshock’s allegations about Trosch and the school board contacting Penn State are proven, then there are bigger problems facing the school district than this case.

Both parties are in the wrong here. Layshock shouldn’t have created the page, but the school district shouldn’t have contacted Penn State. With forums like MySpace available to people online, these sorts of situations are bound to happen. Nevertheless, we hope that the judge doesn’t rule in favor of Layshock, as it will further the creation of potentially defamatory profiles of school administrators, but we also hope that school administrators and teachers will grow thicker skin and learn to deal with these things in an appropriate manner and not blow things out of proportion.