student rights in private schools

Private colleges are not immune from free speech issues. According to the Student Press Law Center (SPLC), while private institutions usually are not required to conform with constitutional protections, other factors may come into play, notably, the schools’ own rules, guidelines, literature and catalogs (SPLC, 1995). An example is a case at Princeton University, which began in April, 1978, when a non-student (Chris Schmid), who was distributing literature from the U.S. Labor Party, was arrested and prosecuted for trespassing. In state court, Princeton University argued that its “institutional academic freedom,” i.e., power to control its own environment, was sufficient grounds to eject Mr. Schmid and to sustain trespassing charges. Schmid countered that his free speech and assembly rights (as enumerated in both the U.S. and N.J. Constitutions) were violated by the private institution. The court eventually sided with Schmid (State v. Schmid), but not on Constitutional grounds, but because Princeton’s own literature portrayed itself as an open forum (e.g., from Princeton’s regulations: “Free speech and peaceable assembly are basic requirements of the University as a center for free inquiry and the search for knowledge and insight.”), so it had violated its own contract with its students and its community (Kors and Silverglate, 1988, pp. 59-63).

Private school students, because their administrators are not usually considered government actors, will have a hard time relying on their constitutional rights. However private school students can use the same arguments they use against censorship to protect themselves against forced disclosure: policy arguments in favor of the privilege and contract claims based on free-expression guarantees listed among students' rights.