According to the First Amendment Center, located at Vanderbilt University and the Newseum in Washington, DC, there are twelve categories of speech that are not protected by First Amendment rights. These are: “obscenity, offensive words, defamation (libel, slander), child pornography, perjury, blackmail, incitement to imminent illegal action, actual threats, incitement to commit crimes and plagiarism of copyrighted material” (par. 2) . The Center also adds that "some experts would also add betrayal, if committed verbally" (para. 2). Nowhere in this list are “things we don’t like” included. Public schools, including public colleges and universities, by law, must extend First Amendment rights to their students, as they are an extension of the government. It hasn't always been this way. When the First Amendment was adopted, it applied only to Congress and the Federal Government and not to the states (First Amendment Center, n.d.). It was only in the case of Gitlow v. People's Supreme Court Act of 1925, which ruled that First Amendment “rights” should be extended to individual states and, by extension, to public schools, through the Fourteenth Amendment and its equivalent rights. protection clause (1925). This did not automatically grant students their First Amendment rights. It took nearly another twenty years before the Supreme Court specifically extended First Amendment protections to students in public school systems. In 1943, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (319 U.S. 624, 1943) involved Jehovah's Witness students who refused to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, citing religious reasons. The school disciplined the students and their parents, but the students sued in...... middle of document ......vol8lee.pdfMcLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, 339 US 637 (1950). Retrieved from http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/339/637/case.htmlRothman, J. E. (2001). Free speech and real threats. Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, 25(1), 283-367. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=d83f43f6-ea9a-4bc9-a5ae-b656ccedd13c%40sessionmgr111 &vid=12&hid=109Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 US 503 (1969). Retrieved from http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/393/503/case.htmlU.S. Constitution amend. IWatts v. United States, 394 US 705 (1969). Retrieved from http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/394/705/case.htmlWest Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnett, 319 US 624 (1943). Retrieved from http://Supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/319/624/case.html