Way back in 2007, high school student Avery Doninger took to her personal LiveJournal blog to gripe about school administrators who canceled Jamfest, a popular school festival. Having mass e-mailed the student body about the issue and attempted to resolve it in person, Doninger was fuming and called the administrators “douchebags.” In return, the school barred her from running for reelection as class secretary her senior year. Arguing that she was off campus and exercising her right to free speech when she likened her teachers to antiquated feminine hygiene products, she naturally sued. Only this week was the matter put to rest, with a federal appeals court in New York pronouncing that Connecticut Lewis B. Mills High School officials were within their rights to discipline Doninger, and that they acted reasonably. This is a bad day for Doninger, who not only received an unwanted ruling, but also is once again in the headlines for using a derogatory term that went out of style in 2009.
NY Court Upholds “D-Bag” Ruling [NBC New York]
