The Columbia, S.C., chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has

stepped in to offer legal defense and advice to five Irmo High School

students who protested the school's cancellation of an Indigo Girls concert

due to the folk-rock duo's homosexuality.

The students were given eight-day suspensions following a class walkout

last Thursday.

Meanwhile, seven other advocacy groups -- the National Campaign for Freedom

of Expression; the Massachusetts Music Industry Coalition; the National

Coalition Against Censorship; Rock Out Censorship; Artists for a Hate-Free

America; the New England Free Expression Network; and the Boston Coalition

for Freedom of Expression -- released a statement on Friday that condemned

the cancellations and praised the students who protested the action.

"The students should be learning that the freedom of expression is the

cornerstone of our nation's democracy," said David Greene, program director

of the National Campaign for Freedom of Expression. "But sadly, the school

leaders are demonstrating instead that the students' and the performers'

fundamental liberties may be thoughtlessly disregarded."

The ACLU, a civil liberties organization, was approached by a parent of one

of the students on Thursday, according to Carl A. "Andy" Brumme III, ACLU

staff counsel in Columbia, S.C. This happened after protesting students

were held in a school conference room for two hours, pending

administrators' investigation of the protest and contact with parents and

guardians.

When Principal Gerald Witt distributed eight-day suspensions to the

students, as well as seven others who have not yet asked the ACLU for help, the ACLU took an even bigger interest in

the case, claiming that the school was going above and beyond its standard

policies on tardiness and skipping class, Brumme said. "The principal had

spoken with [local newspaper] The State and told them that students

who participated in the walkout would serve a three-hour detention on

Saturday," he explained. "After about a half-hour of their protest, the

students were asked by a teacher, 'Don't you think it's time to get back to

class?', and they replied that they were not ready, that they still had

some things to discuss."

At this point, according to Brumme, the students were allegedly led into a

conference room where they were held for two hours without being able to

contact their parents. "When the principal told them they were being

suspended for eight days for disobeying a teacher," Brumme continued, "they

were shocked."

According to District 5 School Board spokeswoman Jane Rish, the high school

marks students tardy if they miss the first 10 minutes of class. After 20

minutes, they are marked absent and given a Saturday detention. "We are

following our district guidelines with these students," Rish explained,

"but the problem is they fall into four or five different categories of

discipline."

Though all 12 students were officially suspended for disobeying a teacher,

District 5 School Board spokesman Buddy Price said on Friday that some

students may also have been suspended for disrupting the educational

process. Five of the suspended students have yet to accept the support of

the ACLU.

According to Irmo High School policy, students who are suspended have a

chance to appeal the decision in a face-to-face meeting with their parents

and the principal. Rish and Brumme said that these meetings took place

Monday and that Principal Witt seems to have held his ground. The next

step, should the students elect to appeal the decision, is a meeting with a

district hearing officer. Should the suspensions remain in place, Brumme

said, the ACLU is prepared to file suit against the school.

"I've communicated numerous times with the school's attorney, and their

position is that it's a discipline issue and not a First Amendment issue,"

Brumme explained. "At the moment, I'm trying to get a temporary restraining

order against these suspensions, to put them back in classes while this

process is going on."

If the suspensions hold, Brumme added, the ACLU will file suit on behalf of

the students to collect damages and attorneys' fees. "These students

thought they were going to get detentions, and they are willing to serve

them," Brumme said. "These suspensions, however, are a violation of the

First, Fourth and 14th Amendments, mainly against freedom of speech and

assembly."

At Farragut High School in Knoxville, Tenn., where three students were

given three-day suspensions following their involvement in similar Indigo

Girls-related protests, teacher and concert organizer Jeff Callahan

resigned as advisor for the school's student newspaper, The Crow's

Nest. The concert was called off at this school soon after

administrators learned of the Irmo cancellation. However, in this case, the

principal cited the band's use of vulgarities in their lyrics -- rather

than their sexuality -- as the impetus for the cancellation.

"I think the decision speaks for itself," Callahan said. "But I do want to

add that this fiasco with the Indigo Girls was not the reason why [I

resigned]. My decision involved other things." Callahan did concede,

though, that Farragut Principal Edwin Hedgepeth's last-minute cancellation

of the concert was "the straw which broke the camel's back."

Leslie Aldredge of the Shagg Network, the organization that booked the

Indigo Girls' controversial swing through high schools and universities in

the South, agreed with the assessment of the situation by Green, of the

National Campaign for Freedom of Expression. Stating that she hadn't really

anticipated such a controversy to erupt, Aldredge said she felt that the

educators in this case are doing their students a disservice.

"The fact that an amazing talent like the Indigo Girls was willing to do

this on their own dime was an incredible gesture of goodwill and an

opportunity for kids to be in touch with artists," Aldredge said. "I

understand the conservative political climate, but I think we missed out on

an incredible educational opportunity."