Free Speech Group: Fair Lawn Teen Deserves an Apology

FAIR LAWN, NJ - A free speech group is demanding school administrators apologize to Bethany Koval for the way they’ve treated her following an anti-Israel tweet she posted last month.

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) said in a statement Tuesday Koval “shouldn’t be punished by the school. She should be praised for speaking her mind.”

Koval got into hot water with district officials over a Dec. 27 tweet that causes a fellow classmate to unfollow her where she allegedly said ”[expletive] Israel.”

Related: Fair Lawn Student: ‘I Was Reprimanded Over Anti-Israel Tweets’

Koval, an Israeli Jew, said met with an administrator who coerced her into writing a statement describing the events. Koval objected to the request, saying she did not want to write anything without a lawyer present, The Gothamist reported.

Koval said the administrator warned her that some of her Twitter postings could violate New Jersey’s anti-bullying law. Koval recorded the alleged meeting and posted portions of it on Twitter.

“The approach was for an administrator to suggest that she may have violated state law and that seems like a remarkable approach to a dispute between two students,” said Peter Hart, NCAC’s communications director.

Related: Worldwide Support For Fair Lawn Teen After Anti-Israel Tweets

The issue has received worldwide attention for a number reasons, most notably the issues of free speech by a student and how much districts can punish students for what they say on social media.

The district released a statement saying that it “recognizes and respects individuals’ First Amendment rights to free speech,” and that “at no time have District officials sought to censor or reprimand any pupils for their online speech.”

“There’s a certain lack of clarity about how administrators are supposed to deal with this stuff. The caselaw predate the use of social media,” Hart said. “The administrators are trying to apply the precedents with school newspapers to what’s being done off campus.”

The matter has divided residents and Twitter users, mostly along the lines of First Amendment rights. Parents held a non-violent protest in Fair Lawn this weekend in support of school administrators.

Koval’s situation is not unique.

Caley Godino was kicked off the cheerleading team at Revere High School in Massachusetts for posting a tweet about undocumented immigrants.

‘When only 10 percent of of Revere votes for mayor, [it’s] cause the other 90 percent isn’t legal,” Godino said in the tweet, Fox News Latino reported.

A Minnesota high school student was suspended last year after joking about making out with a teacher. Sagehorn simply responded “actually yes” to a question asked online about whether he’d “made out” with a teacher, Fox29 reported.

The matter has attracted a lot of attention for its political overtones as well. Koval has received reactions from people on both sides of the pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian issue.

Frankly, the political content of this dispute is the reason everyone is paying attention,” Hart said. “She received support from the pro-Palestinian side and that made her case an international situation within a matter of hours.”

Pictured: Bethany Koval’s Twitter profile picture