Young Writers Society

In the grand tradition of J. Edgar Hoover, who kept dossiers on the sexual habits of politicians and potential political enemies, in order to "out" them when opportune, a Tennessee high school principal had her flunkies put together a list of student romantic couples in order to "keep an eye on them" and cut down on public displays of affection.

Eyewitness News reports:

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union say Daphne Beasley, the principal of Hollis F. Price Middle College High School in South Memphis, went way beyond her role as educator.

The ACLU says in September 2007, Beasley asked her staff to give her the names of students who were couples, heterosexual and homosexual, because she wanted to keep an eye on them to cut down on public displays of affection.

More here

That's inhumane, what gives her the right? To ostrasize them like this? Nothing they deserve to be respected. God...

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My boyfriend and I used to get in trouble for public displays of affection simply because we were dating. We never did anything inapropriate, btu if we were sitting close together, r if noone had seen us for a wjhile, obviously we had just finished making out. Honestly!.

That is kinda weird. Its none of her business.

Well in my school teacher know who's going out with who so they separate the couple during course. But this thing... it's just so weird to see that she keeps a list of that! I mean, she could just ask to the staff to keep an eye, not note everything- because now there are proofs,^^.

I actually don't find this all that suprising. Our teachers always seem to know who is a couple and who's doing drugs/smoking. And yes, it seems a huge invasion of privacy to have this list, but in another way if the principal asked the tachers to tell them then it's not more different than me asking my friend who in our school is a couple. if she'd like to make herself a nice little list so she can keep tabs on couples, then I guess that's her buisiness, since it would be no different than if she just had a good memory and kept it in mind, no?

Still, at the same time she is an adult and is going beyond her role as a teacher, despite the fact I can't see anything horribly wrong with it, since people have open acess to the information anyways. =P A little stalker-ish at the worst.

My friend got in trouble for sittling to close to a boy who she wasn't even dating. I thought that was pretty insane.

I think the most insanething that makes this wrong is for her to have POSTED this list for EVERYONE to see. That's true violation of our Constitution! We have a right to privacy... Why do our schools need to know who we're together with as long as we keep OFF each other at school??? That article said that she exposed a homosexual couple... that's harrasment if it bothered them having everyone know!!! I don't havev a problem if the school authorities know who's with who or who's doing what drug... but when you go to the point of making a list and POSTING it... then that crosses a bunch of boundaries!!!

Could someone please show where in the US Constitution it guarantees a right to privacy?

The Constitution apparently doesn't, but:

The Constitution does not specifically mention a right to privacy. However, Supreme Court decisions over the years have established that the right to privacy is a basic human right, and as such is protected by virtue of the 9th Amendment. The right to privacy has come to the public's attention via several controversial Supreme Court rulings, including several dealing with contraception (the Griswold and Eisenstadt cases), interracial marriage (the Loving case), and abortion (the well-known Roe v Wade case). In addition, it is said that a right to privacy is inherent in many of the amendments in the Bill of Rights, such as the 3rd, the 4th's search and seizure limits, and the 5th's self-incrimination limit.

Source: http://www.usconstitution.net/constnot.html#privacy

The same thing has happened at my school; a teacher once broke up a hug with my girlfriend because it was inappropriate. She also said there were married teachers at school that avoided public affection for the same reason. I can understand it but ... keeping a list is wrong. Asking people to try and avoid public affection is probably sensible, but keeping a list is pretty ridiculous.

This brings back a memory the other day at my school. All the girls were sent to the hall, and were lectured about IPC (Inappropriate contact) where you can't hug someone in the school, or touch them in a 'bad way'. So funny...

But ye, this isn't all the surprising, no matter how creepy it is. That teacher had no right though.

Mark

I'd hate that!

Most teachers know who's dating who - they don't need a list.

In my school, the teachers don't really care if we hug our friends, but they do care if we hug our boyfriends/girlfriends. I don't see what the difference is - it's just a hug. If they let us hug friends, we should be able to hug boyfriends/girlfriends.

Also, some teachers in my school don't care. Two people made out for several minutes in front of a teacher, and the teacher did nothing. It's kind of stupid...

But yeah. Hugs should be okay in school, the rest shouldn't be. (But in high school, I doubt teachers can really stop that.)

~JFW1415

Still, at the same time she is an adult and is going beyond her role as a teacher, despite the fact I can't see anything horribly wrong with it, since people have open acess to the information anyways. =P A little stalker-ish at the worst.

I totally agree. And panic at the rodeo, I didn't read where she posted it. It does seem weird, but to me that's all it seems. That lady's responsible for the safety of her students as well as her education, and okay maybe this was stepping over the line a bit (I mean a list?) but I don't think she deserves to be jumped on like this.

And can we please not let this degenerate into a debate on public displays of affection? Start up a debate forum if you want to discuss that part in more detail.

I go to an all boys schools, so this sort of thing isn't really a problem...