MILWAUKEE — Mary Beth Tinker, a plaintiff in the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the 1969 U.S. Supreme Court case which ruled that students and teachers do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,” will be the special guest for the next installment of the “Get to Know” program series of Marquette University Law School’s Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education, on Thursday, April 24, at 12:15 p.m. at Eckstein Hall, 1215 W. Michigan St. The event is cosponsored by the Marquette University College of Education.
Derek Mosley, director of the Lubar Center, hosts the “Get to Know” series. Registration is available online for this free public event. Media wishing to attend should contact Kevin Conway at kevin.m.conway@marquette.edu.
In 1965, Tinker was in eighth grade when she and other students wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam War, leading to a suspension from school and, eventually, the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court. The “Tinker test” is still used today to determine whether a school’s actions to prevent disruptions violate a student’s First Amendment rights. Tinker has a master’s degree in nursing and public health and is an activist for youth and for peace.
Supreme Court cases are routinely referred to by name, yet it may be too easy to forget the real people behind the names. The Lubar Center’s “Face of the Case” series attempts to showcase the people.
Mosley has served as Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education director since 2023. Under his leadership, the Law School’s Lubar Center has expanded its programming to include sessions during Black History Month and on unconscious bias, as well as Heritage Dinners in the community, offering participants and attendees an engaging perspective on a variety of issues grounded in current events. A 1995 graduate of Marquette Law School, Mosley for seven years represented the state of Wisconsin in court as an assistant district attorney in Milwaukee County and then served as a judge of the Milwaukee Municipal Court for 20 years.
