Public School in South Orange battling student over First Amendment Rights.

Autumn Marisa

Columbia High School in Maplewood is being sued by student Susan Taylor for violation of her First Amendment Rights. The suit was filed in Newark, NJ federal court on June 26, 2000, after Taylor was suspended for three weeks for wearing a t-shirt to school that said “Proud to be an Atheist”. Taylor claims her freedom of expression right was disregarded.

Taylor reported that her history teacher, David Kasper, said she was “going straight to hell”.
Taylor said the principal, Jan Gorlin, demanded she take the shirt off and allegedly told her “we all believe in God at this school-there’s no room for someone like you here.”

Gorlin denies saying that, claiming she would never hurt a student. Both Kasper and Gorlin have been in education for 22 and 30 years, respectively.
After Gorlin notified her parents, Taylor was eventually removed from the building by
two security guards who she claims pushed and shoved her.

The School District supported the decision of the school to suspend Taylor and encouraged the school officials to maintain order and eliminate disruptions to the learning process. Citing Tinker v. Des Moines School District, Taylor claims she was not disruptive and few students noticed her shirt, she was merely expressing a different view point.

Taylor is suing to overturn her suspension, as wells as seeking $1 million in compensatory damages and $2.5 million in punitive damages. Both parties are trying to settle, but Nicholas Sullivan, Taylor’s Attorney, rejected the initial offer of Taylor serving the entire suspension and banning the t-shirt from being worn again. Eileen Bauer, the District’s attorney said, “The courts have no authority to manage the day-to-day operations of a school.”

A trial date has not been released.