Collegiate Times

?We have a responsibility to the public to do the right thing,? Tom Bailey, the Superintendent of Oak Ridge High School, told the Associated Press.

How many times have you heard that phrase before? Trying to ?do the right thing? seems like a very noble, selfless gesture. But, when Oak Ridge?s administration took it upon itself to seize 1,800 copies of the high school?s student-run newspaper, they didn?t realize just how wrong they were.

The administrators invaded teachers? classrooms, desks and mailboxes in an effort to round up every last copy of the Oak Leaf, Oak Ridge?s school newspaper. The reason? This particular edition of the paper contained stories about birth control and tattoos.

The birth control article listed success rates for varying methods and gave locations where students could obtain contraceptives. The paper also contained a photo of an unidentified student?s tattoo, and Bailey said the student had not told her parents about getting the tattoo.

?I have a problem with the idea of putting something in the paper that makes us a part of hiding something from the parents,? he said.

Bailey also went on to say that the paper could be reprinted if the students made appropriate changes. Sometimes people with the best intentions utterly fail to consider all aspects of a particular issue, and this is exactly what the Oak Ridge High School administration has done. By swooping in and confiscating the entire day?s printing of their school publication, they didn?t just steal papers ? they stole the First Amendment rights of the entire faculty and student body.

First, censoring the newspaper stripped the students of their voices. Journalists are obligated by the very nature of their profession to cultivate the truth and grant a public forum to those whose voices are not normally heard.

The Oak Ridge High School administration effectively denied this to their students, which reveals that they apparently believe Constitutional rights don?t apply to minors.

Second, the administration wronged the people who put in the extra time to make sure that the school had a newspaper for that day. By confiscating all 1,800 papers, they destroyed countless hours of investigative reporting, photo taking, copyediting and layout design.

Finally, each and every person who was supposed to get a copy of the Oak Leaf that day had his or her rights infringed upon. No one ? not even the teachers ? was safe from the holy retribution of the school administrators.

So many have been wronged by the actions of Oak Ridge?s school administration, but what can be done about it? Is everyone under the age of 18 powerless to make their voice known to the public?

While schools across the nation are allowed by law to censor their student-run publications, no institution, no matter how much power it wields, is allowed to steal the property of another ? and mail theft, in particular, is a federal offense.

Since Oak Ridge?s administration can?t be prosecuted for violating their school?s First Amendment rights, they should be held accountable for swiping the newspapers out of all those teachers? desks and mailboxes. And the penalty for such offenses is quite steep.