Ongoing History Daily: A big band goes to war for a high school student

One day in 1998, Eric VanHoven went to school as usual in Zeeland, Michigan. That day, he decided he’d wear his Korn t-shirt. It wasn’t anything fancy; just a back shirt with the band’s logo. That’s it.

But then he was spotted by the assistant principal. She said “Korn is indecent, vulgar, obscene and intends to be insulting. [Wearing the name Korn] is no different than a person wearing a middle finger on their shirt.” Eric was suspended.

This created a big stir with the rest of the students—and news reached the band. They got their lawyer on the case, going after the assistant principal for “maliciously and intentionally” defaming the band and demanded “significant compensatory and punitive damages.”

The school fought back, saying that this was essentially a dress code situation. But then the ACLU got involved, pointing out that kids had worn Rolling Stones shirts to school with no problem.

Eric was suspended eight times for his shirts. In the end, though, no legal action was taken.