High school student was allegedly suspended for saying “illegal alien” in class discussion

You can read the complaint that was just filed here CM v. Davidson County Bd. by Ed.; Here is my post about the incident when it first hit the news.

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The New York Post (Yaron Steinbuch) reports:

A 16-year-old North Carolina high school student says he was suspended simply for saying “illegal alien” while discussing the meaning of the word in English class – potentially ruining his chances of getting a college athletic scholarship .

Christian McGhee, a student at Central Davidson High School in Lexington, received a three-day suspension last week after using the term in English class, the Carolina Journal reported.

His mother, Leah McGhee, said his teacher gave an assignment that included the word “alien” and Christian asked, “Like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?”

Another student reportedly became insulted and threatened to fight Christian, prompting the teacher to bring the matter to the assistant principal, according to the Carolina Journal.

The Carolina Journal (Briana Kraemer) reports:

According to an email describing the incident sent to local officials and shared with the Carolina Journal, a young man in the class took offense to his question and reportedly threatened to fight him, prompting the teacher to call in the deputy principal. Ultimately, his words were perceived by administrators as offensive and disrespectful to Hispanic classmates.

“I didn’t make a statement directed at anyone, I just asked a question,” the student said in response to his suspension. “I didn’t talk about Hispanics because everyone from other countries needs a green card and the term ‘illegal alien’ is an actual term that I hear in the news and can find in the dictionary.”…

Hans Bader (Liberty Unyielding) has more. If the facts are as described in the press coverage, this would likely be a violation of the First Amendment; And even putting the First Amendment aside, I think it’s an inappropriate attempt to impose a particular ideological orthodoxy.

Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Come on, school clerk. (1969) allows restriction of speech if it “significantly disrupts the classroom or involves significant disruption or interference with the rights of others”, and this has actually been interpreted to allow a “heckler’s veto”, if enough people threaten the speaker. But I doubt that such a threat qualifies (particularly as a basis for suspension), just as virtually any controversial statement on any topic—abortion, war, affirmative action, police, or a host of other topics—could be punished just because it is sufficiently uncomfortable for a person. (After all, if speech can be punished because someone threatens to fight someone over the official legal term “illegal alien,” it could be equally punishable when someone threatens to fight someone over a substantive policy position, such as “immigration laws “should be enforced by deporting people who are not legally allowed to stay in the country.”)