Censored by a Missouri high school in 1983, Cathy Kuhlmeier still fights for student free speech...

Cathy Kuhlmeier fought censorship at her Hazelwood high school in 1983 and lost. Decades later, it’s a battle she’s still fighting.
Nearly 35 years have passed since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling, on Jan. 13, 1988, that Hazelwood East High School had the right to censor its student newspaper. The landmark decision set a precedent that’s allowed administrators at other high schools and colleges to restrict students’ free speech. Decades later, the decision still rankles Cathy Kuhlmeier.

In 1983, Kuhlmeier was an editor at the Hazelwood East newspaper, The Spectrum. At the time, she told St. Louis on the Air, the editors “wanted to do more in-depth stories than what the typical, fluffy type stories that ran” covering the school’s football team or prom season.