On April 25, 1980, 15-year-old sophomore Spiros Hinze was kicked out of his third period class for refusing to take off a button that said “F--- the Draft.” Principal Michael Woodke had confiscated Hinze’s button the previous day, and warned him that if button containing the word appeared again, he would be suspended.
Hinze, a politically active student and the publisher of an underground newspaper, justified his act of defiance with what he called his “his constitutional right to offend people.”
When Hinze returned from his suspension three days later, he brought his controversial button back with him, and subsequently received another suspension.
Woodke told the San Francisco Chronicle that it was necessary to protect students from abuse on campus, because a public school was not like a public sidewalk.
Hoping that the court would object to his suspensions, Hinze took the case to Marin County court. However, the court ruled in the school’s favor in a 2-1 decision.
The court said that Hinze had the right to wear the button except on a school campus because the State Code of Education forbade the use of vulgar language in school. Justice Norman Elking wrote in the majority opinion, “Public school students…are still immature, some of them are children of tender years.”
Hinze and the ACLU then attempted to carry an appeal to the State Court of Appeals.
“Basically, I’m just appealing for the same reason I initiated the case in the first place, to protect my freedom of expression,” Hinze said at the time.
However, Hinze and the ACLU lost the appeal.
“The justice system is a game played by skillfull players,” Hinze said. “The district has some pretty shoddy players.”
Bob Ehlers, Class of 1980, recalled in an email that he was one of the few students to side with the administration’s decision to suspend Hinze.
“People have the right to free speech, but people also have freedom to not listen,” Ehlers wrote. “However in school they can’t not listen, [or see], since the law requires students to be in school.”
The Bark jumped to defend Hinze and released a one-page special edition only a few hours after Hinze’s first suspension. One headline stated, “Administration defies Constitution,” which angered Woodke.
Ehlers said that Hinze’s anti-draft sentiment had nothing to do with his punishment.
“We were not saying that he did not have a right to voice his opinion, but he should not use profanity to do it,” said Ehlers. “If he wanted to wear a ‘Stop the Draft’ or ‘The Draft is Wrong’ or something else that did not use obscenities, then it was fine.”
In fact, Hinze did own a button that said “Stop the Draft.” However, he told the Chronicle that it did not express his position as well as “F--- the Draft.”
Despite losing both trials, Hinze said he was not sorry about all that had gone on because he was defending something worth putting up a fight for.
“Both the district and I were hurt. I still believe they acted stupidly,” he said.
