WINONA, Minn. — Two Winona high school students were suspended yesterday after breaking a week-old rule against wearing T-shirts inspired by the Vagina Monologues play.
One was Carrie Rethlefsen, 18, who touched off a high-profile free-speech debate at the high school in February when she continued to wear a button that read “I (heart) my vagina” despite the threats of school officials who called it offensive.
Students rallied to her cause, and yesterday about 45 of them gathered in front of the school before class. Several women wore “I (heart) my vagina” shirts while male students wore a version that said, “I support your vagina.”
School administrators said last week that students could wear the shirts and similar buttons outside the school, but would be asked to turn their T-shirts inside-out or remove the buttons before going to class.
Those who didn’t would get a one-day suspension, according to a letter the principal sent to students’ homes last week. Some students carried signs yesterday that said, “We respect authority, but we question authority.”
Rethlefsen told reporters she knew she would be suspended but wore her shirt inside anyway to support the issues of female sexuality and sexual violence against women discussed in the play.
She said she planned to spend her day off from school appearing on talk-radio shows. “I think the shirts made their statement,” Rethlefsen said after walking out of the school with a pink disciplinary slip in her hand.
Another student, Katelyn Delvaux, also refused to conceal her T-shirt and was sent home. No further information about her was immediately available.
Late last week school officials said they would let students start a women’s issues group, bring in a speaker on issues of importance to women and set up a table at the school where a local woman’s advocacy group would provide information — but students who wore buttons or T-shirts with the word “vagina” into the school would be punished.
Charles Samuelson, executive director of the Minnesota Chapter of the ACLU, said that it wasn’t clear the girls would have won a legal fight, since officials have a right to maintain order in the school.
Court cases have established that students have free-expression rights, but other rulings have said those rights can be trumped if school officials have a “reasonable” fear the message will be disruptive, Samuelson said.
Yesterday morning, a line of teachers stood in front of the school and at other entrances. Some police officers were nearby. Minutes before classes were to begin at 9 a.m., Assistant Principal Ben Johnson stood near the doors with a bullhorn.
Johnson, set to retire in a couple of months after 37 years in the district, looked at Rethlefsen and the other students gathered nearby.
“They are good kids,” he said. “They just have a different view of what’s appropriate. We just feel differently about a particular word being used in school.”
