Fifty years after Tinker v. Des Moines case, Tinkers set to visit UI

Contributed

Bettmann Archive

Contributed

Marissa Payne, Managing Editor

The University of Iowa Lecture Committee will bring Mary Beth Tinker and John Tinker to speak in the Old Capitol Senate Chambers on Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. — 50 years since the Tinker v. Des Moines Supreme Court case affirmed individuals’ First Amendment rights in public schools.

The Tinkers will discuss their experiences being at the center of the case, which made its way to the nation’s highest court after a Des Moines school officials suspended students wearing black armbands in silent protest of the Vietnam War.

Justice Abe Fortas wrote in the majority opinion that students and teachers do not “shed their constitutional rights … at the schoolhouse gate.”

The event is free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-seated.