1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to take immediate action to protect the constitutional free speech rights of student constituents who face increasingly violent and disproportionate responses when exercising their right to peaceful protest. In 2026 alone, over 1,000 student-led protests have been documented, representing 9% of more than 12,200 civil resistance actions nationwide. Despite research from the United States Institute of Peace in collaboration with Harvard Kennedy School showing that youth movements are equally peaceful as those with lower youth participation, states consistently treat student protests as violent and respond with violent repression. This pattern has resulted in mass suspensions, arrests, and physical violence against minors across the country. The incident in Quakertown, Pennsylvania exemplifies this troubling trend. On a Friday at 11:35 a.m., approximately 35 students from Quakertown Community High School staged a walkout. Video footage shows Scott McElree, Quakertown's chief of police and borough manager, rushing into the crowd and grabbing a student. When four or five students came to their classmate's aid, McElree held a petite girl in a chokehold before they fell to the ground. Five students and one adult were arrested, with two students facing felony charges. Similar incidents have occurred nationwide, including 303 students suspended for three days at Woodbridge High School in Virginia, 120 students suspended in Mustang, Oklahoma, and a student physically attacked during a walkout at Grand Island Senior High School in Nebraska. Tinker v. Des Moines established 57 years ago that students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate. Yet we are criminalizing children for exercising those very rights while excusing aggression by authority figures. I urge you to champion legislation that establishes specialized law enforcement protocols for engaging with minors during protests, prohibits felony charges against students exercising free speech rights, and requires schools to provide safe opportunities for student dissent. Our youngest constituents deserve protection, not prosecution, when they participate in our democracy.