Mary Beth Tinker to Lead Student
"Teach-In" on November 7
For Immediate Release:
Monday, October 26, 2009
Contact: Alessandra Soler Meetze at 602-418-5499 (cell)/602-650-1854 ext. 106 (office)
PHOENIX – Former ACLU Clients Mary Beth Tinker and Savana Redding will be in Tempe on November 7, leading a student "teach in" and interactive brainstorming session on how to influence decision makers, initiate change and solve problems that are important to young people in Arizona.
The student teach in, which is free and open to students of all ages, will focus on how students can influence public policy and advocate for their rights by accessing community resources and working with school officials, community leaders, and elected officials. Students who took concrete steps to influence change in their local schools and communities will share their experiences.
"A lot of times young people feel like they're invisible to adult decision-makers," said ACLU of Arizona Executive Director Alessandra Soler Meetze. "This event is intended to inspire students to speak up for issues they believe in and play a major role in achieving something positive for their schools and communities."
The ACLU of Arizona Student Teach In featuring Mary Beth Tinker and Savana Redding will be from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, November 7th at Green, 2240 N Scottsdale Rd., in Tempe, Arizona 85281. For more information and to RSVP, call Addy Bareiss at 602-650-1854 ext. 115 (abareiss@acluaz.org).
Savana Redding and Mary Beth Tinker were only 13 years old when they had the courage to stand up against actions by schools officials that violated their constitutional rights. Both women served as ACLU clients in two landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases handed down 40 years apart. Both of their cases established important legal precedents protecting the rights of students to be free from unreasonable searches and to express themselves at school.
"Mary Beth Tinker broke the path that students – like Savana Redding – have followed and it is because of them that generations of students have been introduced to the ACLU," added Meetze.
Savana Redding and her mother, April, are plaintiffs in the case Safford Unified School District v. Redding, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 25, 2009. The Court ruled that school officials violated Savana's constitutional rights when they strip searched her based on a classmate's uncorroborated accusation that she previously possessed ibuprofen. Savana was 13-years-old at the time of the incident. Now 19, Savana is a college student currently living with her father in Hobbs, New Mexico.
Tinker was a junior high school student in December 1965 when she and a group of students were suspended for wearing black armbands to school to protest the war in Vietnam. Represented by the ACLU, the students and their families embarked on a four-year court battle that culminated in the landmark Supreme Court decision: Tinker v. Des Moines. On February 24, 1969 the Court ruled 7-2 that students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." Mary Beth Tinker is now a registered nurse, an active leader in her union, and holds masters degrees in public health and nursing. Tinker continues to educate young people about their rights, speaking frequently to student groups across the country.
Redding and Tinker are in Phoenix for events celebrating the ACLU of Arizona's 50th Anniversary. The ACLU of Arizona, which works through public education, legislative advocacy and member mobilization to defend civil liberties, was originally chartered on June 22, 1959. They will be honored at a reception from 4 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, November 7th at the Home of Janet and Michael Valder, 6211 N. 20th Street, in Phoenix. Tickets for the evening reception are $50 and must be purchased in advance at www.acluaz.org.