Chicago Area Local News

BERWYN, Ill. (CBS) ― In west suburban Berwyn, the concept of free speech is being questioned following an anti-war protest at a high school. As CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports, two dozen students are about to pay a heavy price for their protest.

Outside Morton West High School Tuesday morning, there was a protest held over reaction to a protest. About 25 students who face expulsion due to an anti-war demonstration joined their parents and other supporters to demand the kids be allowed back in class.

"The extreme punishments handed down by the school administration are not consistent with the actions of our students," said parent Adam Swarek.

"This is about freedom of speech," said Szwarek, father of a sophomore who was suspended after the sit-in last Thursday. Szwarek says his son now faces an expulsion hearing. "There has to be consequences, but 10-day [suspensions]?"

The demonstration against the Iraq War, a cafeteria sit-in, took place last Thursday.

"I sit down, playing guitar, singing along with it," said student protestor Jonathan Acevedo. "I don't think I did anything wrong."

But school Superintendent Ben Nowkowski certainly did. He charged some of the student demonstrators with gross disobedience and mob activity. Some, but not all.

"Some received three to five day suspensions with no expulsion," said parent Mary Rose Heffernan. "Our children got 10-day suspensions with expulsion."

Szwarek and other parents insisted the protest against the Iraq war was peaceful. The kids say the sit-in was meant as an alternative to regular school visits by military recruiters.

The parents also said their children complied with a request by school administrators to move their protest from the cafeteria to another room after being assured they wouldn't be disciplined.

But Ben Nowakowski, superintendent of Morton School District 201, says the protest was not peaceful and it disrupted the school day. He confirmed the district was "going through the suspension and expulsion process for 25 students."

During the protest, he invited students to move outside, telling them they wouldn't be disciplined if they left, Nowakowski said. Some students returned to class, but others locked arms and refused to move, he said. "They were quite boisterous and wouldn't listen to police and the administration," Nowakowski said.

All classes were locked down "while the situation was handled by administration and Berwyn police," he said. Ultimately, the protesters moved to an alternative area, and students were released from their classrooms.

The 25 students who didn't disperse "will be brought up for appropriate disciplinary proceedings," Nowakowski said. No police charges were filed.

Students see discrimination in the penalties. They say athletes and students with high grade-point averages, like junior Barbara Maniotis, got light punishment. She got a five-day suspension.

"I guess I would be exempt from expulsion because they need good students to raise their grades," Maniotis said.

But poor to average students, like Jerry Petracek, may get kicked out.

"If we do get expelled, that means we can't go to high school for two years, any high school in Illinois," Petracek said.

CBS 2 tried to contact Nowakowski, but a staff member said he was unavailable for comment.

"I want to stress that this action has only to do with the students' disruption of the educational process," Nowakowski told the Associated Press. "Not only do students have a right to express themselves on matters of conscience but we encourage them to do so."

Nowakowski said 35 students protested but parents pegged it at 200 throughout the day.

"The superintendent had a knee-jerk reaction," Heffernan said. "He drew a line in the sand and he just won't back off."

Students targeted for expulsion would get a formal hearing to make their case, but they say the punishment simply doesn't fit the crime. The District 201 board meets Wednesday night and is expected to consider disciplinary measures. 

CBS 2's Derrick Blakley and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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