A student who was suspended for creating a Facebook group critical of a teacher will be allowed to sue the principal of her former high school, according to Magistrate Judge Barry L. Garber. In his ruling, Garber denied the principal's attempt to have the case dismissed, noting that Evans' activities were done at home and that she made nonthreatening statements that did not result in any kind of school disruption. As a result, Evans is finally allowed to move forward with her suit two years after it started.

The now-19-year-old Evans had created a Facebook group in 2007 to criticize a teacher that she had clashed with; the group was called "Ms. Sarah Phelps is the worst teacher I've ever met." On the group's wall, Evans had invited other students who didn't like Ms. Phelps to "express [their] feelings of hatred." Two days later, Evans thought better of her decision and deleted the Facebook group. Apparently not many others knew about it, as it only attracted a couple of postings that chastised Evans before the group was removed.

The principal of the school, Peter Bayer, caught wind of the group and suspended Evans for cyberbullying and disruptive behavior. In addition to her suspension, Evans was removed from all of her AP classes (which would have sent me into convulsions) and was forced to enroll in "lesser weighted" classes.

Evans filed a lawsuit against Bayer shortly thereafter, arguing that she was engaged in nonviolent, off-campus activities and that the punishment essentially ruined her academic reputation thanks to violations of her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. She's not asking for much—Evans asked for her suspension to be expunged and a "nominal fee" for the violation of her rights.

The case has been going back and forth ever since. Bayer moved to have the suit dismissed, claiming that qualified immunity should shield him from litigation. Judge Garber disagreed, writing that qualified immunity doesn't necessarily shield Bayer, and that Evans' actions didn't qualify as on-campus speech despite targeting a particular audience at her school. Additionally, Garber wrote that there was no proof of disruption—Bayer didn't even learn about the page until after it had been deleted—leaving only the opportunity to punish. Bayer had tried to argue that Evans' speech could constitute libel or defamation, but the judge responded by saying that "a statement of pure opinion does not give rise to a defamation action."

Not every case involving student speech has been as cut-and-dried, though. Students don't have it as easy as those of us who are out of school when it comes to expressing their sometimes controversial views online, in part because anything that's even remotely school-related is usually argued as a disruption. (Add to this the fact that kids are usually not as guarded as Evans apparently was, and usually go further than necessary in expressing their distaste for school officials.)

For example, a federal judge recently ruled that a Pennsylvania school could suspend two eight-graders for creating a fake MySpace profile for their principal depicting him as a pedophile and a sex addict. Even though most of these activities are technically taking place while the students are at home, judges are finding themselves deciding with increasing frequency whether the activities qualify as "on-campus" when they target other students or teachers. At the same time, other judges have moved to protect student speech, such as one case where an Indiana student's online speech against a teacher was ruled constitutional despite being laden with expletives.

Evans' case still needs to play out in court, so it's a bit early to call this development a victory for student speech. The ACLU in Florida applauded the decision to let Evans' lawsuit move forward, however, telling the New York Times that it's still a victory for Internet free speech. "[I]t upholds the principle that the right to freedom of speech and expression in America does not depend on the technology used to convey opinions and ideas," ACLU associate legal director Maria Kayanan said.