Student & Minor Rights

Knowing your rights is essential to protecting them. Here's what Indiana public school students need to know about their rights in the classroom.

A roundup of major decisions affecting citizenship, voting rights, immigration, and transgender rights

The U.S. District Court for the for the Southern District of Indiana granted the ACLU of Indiana's request for a preliminary injunction against Indiana University over its “expressive activity” policy. The Court found that the policy likely violates the First Amendment.  

The ACLU of Indiana today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on behalf of ten plaintiffs challenging Indiana University’s new “Expressive Activity Policy.”

While these bills are framed as protecting faith-based organizations, prospective foster parents, and prospective adoptive parents from “discrimination,” they could prevent the state from making placement decisions based on child safety and welfare.

As amended, this bill adds the Ten Commandments to the state’s current list of “protected” historical documents, which would allow schools and teachers to post the text or parts of it in classrooms freely.

HB 1408, now HEA 1408, includes language requiring platforms to verify users’ age and Indiana residency and to maintain a 10-year “age estimation” system tied to usage/activity and demographic data.

While this bill failed, similar language may be reintroduced in a future session. SB 138 would have let public schools and charter schools hire, or approve as volunteers, school chaplains who meet specified education background requirements. Chaplains would be able to provide secular guidance and support to students and staff. They could also provide nonsecular services with permission from the student and, in the case of minors, a parent. This bill would have violated important separation of church and state constitutional protections. Chaplains are religious advisers by definition. School counselors are trained to provide secular support for students. Chaplains are not. Placing them in an official role inside public schools — whether paid or voluntary — creates an environment ripe for religious coercion and indoctrination, especially in a school setting where authority dynamics are unavoidable.