Scattered minds fill a room of rhythmic pen clicks. Deadlines to meet, places to be and stories to be told. Like a colony of ants, it takes a collective group of dedicated people to run a publication and provide a source of news to the masses. Here at The Muse we do our best, year after year to update Dreyfoos in an ethical and professional manner.

This week, Scholastic Journalism joins us in celebrating student-run publications and journalism as a whole.  Journalism in schools has come a long way to become what it is today. Often times the rights of students have been tried but time and time again the power of the pen has prevailed.

In 1997 Lexington High School’s yearbook staff decided not to publish an advertisement from a man named Douglas Yeo that promoted abstinence and read “ABSTINENCE: The Healthy Choice.” This was after pro-abstinence parents got into a heated argument with the school district about in school condom distribution. The school had an unwritten policy about publishing political ads, so they refunded the money and returned the advertisement. Yeo attempted suing the principal, the superintendent, the yearbook (LHS yearbook) and newspaper (the LHS Musket) advisers and the Lexington School committee because he felt they were violating his First Amendment right of freedom of speech.

Unfortunately for Mr. Yeo, he was the one hindering that right of the students.

Protecting the right for everyone, including news outlets to say or in this case not say as they wish, has and will remain a foundation of United States policy. Dating back to the founding fathers and their ideals, the First Amendment has cemented itself into our culture where that right will be defended at all costs. It not only supports free thinking but keeps the public informed.

The publication did everything they could do in a situation like this; as mentioned before, they returned the money in a professional way. The verdict of the case did not hold the high school publications, superintendent, the LHS yearbook or the LHS Musket advisers accountable for violating the First Amendment Right of Douglas Yeo.

Scholastic Journalism Week is a reminder to everyone the importance of the press and our rights as citizens. In this case, those very rights we hold dear were challenged but ultimately kept intact. Keeping this in mind is important to all journalists on The Muse so that we can continue to share stories about Dreyfoos’ students and events.