Free speech advocates are crying foul after they say an Iowa social studies teacher banned the use of a lengthy list of words and phrases in her classroom, including the name of an entire state.
On Tuesday, the nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) wrote to officials at the Fremont-Mills Community School District, warning that a seventh-grade social studies teacher’s alleged speech ban is unconstitutional.
“Everyone agrees that teachers have a duty to prevent classroom disruption, but a blanket ban on specific words and topics, regardless of the context, goes too far,” Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy for the civil liberties group, told Fox News Digital in an email.
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The social studies teacher is accused of posting a list of “Banned Words” in her classroom, spanning more than a dozen individual words such as “Ohio,” which can mean “weird,” “cringe” or “dumb,” among Generation Alpha circles; “rizz,” which is short for “charisma”; and “skibidi,” which refers to a series of videos featuring animated talking heads that emerge from toilets.
“Diddy party,” “baby oil,” “brain rot” and “rage quitting” also made the viral list.
The poster further includes a blanket ban on meowing, barking, curse words, racist comments, LGBTQ+ and fat jokes, and references to drugs, Nazis or the Holocaust.
Saying “any of these words listed” is punishable by a 30-minute detention, according to a note at the bottom of the poster. A parent told FIRE that at least 10 students have been disciplined so far.
FIRE acknowledged that schools have a “legitimate interest in preventing actual classroom disruptions,” but said categorically banning a list of terms — including common words like “Ohio” and “chat” — without regard to context violates students’ free speech rights.
“It is well-established that public school students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate,” Terr wrote to the school’s principal and superintendent, citing the landmark 1969 Supreme Court decision in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District.
Some uses of the banned words, references or jokes in certain contexts could be “grounds for discipline” if they cause a “substantial disruption or otherwise fall outside First Amendment protection,” Terr noted.
But he added that references to subjects like drugs, Nazis and the Holocaust are not automatically disruptive and “could even be relevant to the curriculum in a social studies class.”
FIRE called on the district to remove the list, “stop censoring non-disruptive student expression,” and respond by Dec. 23.
“Students and parents are right to speak up when speech rights are threatened, and we think this can be a great teaching moment for all involved about protecting student expression in our public schools,” Terr told Fox News Digital.
The rural school district is located in southwestern Iowa. Fox News Digital has reached out for comment.
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