Kye Dipboye, Staff Reporter
Originally published November 14, 2013

Mary Beth Tinker, the classic voice of First Amendment rights for students and a famous victim to the denial of freedom of speech, set off in the fall from the National Constitution Center with Mike Hiestand long time Student Press Law Center (SPLC) attorney, on an 15,000 mile tour of the nation’s schools, spreading the word about students’ First Amendment rights.

It was almost 48 years ago when Tinker was suspended from her school for wearing a black armband that protested the Vietnam war. Even today after all those decades ago she is still driven to spread her wisdom on the subject.

Passionate about this dilemma, Tinker and Hiestand are traveling from school to school reviving the passion in students to share their viewpoints with the world. Already the “Tinker Tour” as it is called resulted in thousands of students getting a renewed perspective on this essential part of the constitution. Including last March when Tinker visited Inglemoor High School.