By Hedy Gutfreund, Summer Intern

The law, it seems, has failed too many students in Illinois' public schools. According to reliable reports, more than half of Illinois students have been verbally harassed in school, while almost a quarter have been victims of physical harassment. This bullying—and the lack of meaningful policies to successfully prevent or address such behavior—turns school for too many youth from a safe place to learn and grow, into a nightmare to be feared and avoided. Sadly, bullying often targets students with learning disabilities or medical conditions that affect their appearance. And for victims, bullying’s not just emotionally harmful: it increases suicide risk and affects academic success.

Part of the problem is that reporting bullying is much tougher than it seems. While Illinois law already requires schools to have anti-bullying policies, putting those in action has been a challenge. Victims of bullying fear victim-blaming, and they regularly face a lack of understanding from school officials, who might think that the bullying is an irregularity. Reporting bullying can be so difficult because schools don’t have the guidance to make sure that anti-bullying policies do what they’re supposed to do.

But today, Governor Pat Quinn’s signature is a symbol of commitment and of change for Illinois students and families. It’s a symbol of making school a safe place, as it enacts a key anti-bullying bill.

House Bill 5707 was approved on May 29 of this year and signed into law by the Governor today, and it thoroughly defines bullying. It also includes procedures and interventions, developed by local school districts and schools, for reporting and dealing with bullying that offer victims anonymity and that allow for investigation. Plus, the new law will allow for data collection that will let the Illinois School Board of Education know how much bullying actually happens and where.

This new law however, does not take control away from schools. There’s no specific curriculum that schools have to use, and schools won’t be required to bring any special interest groups or speakers to the school. The schools are in control, armed with the tools they need to combat bullying.

Perhaps the bill says it best when it proclaims that “a safe and civil school environment is necessary for students to learn and achieve.” Today, Illinois is one step closer to creating that environment, thanks to the commitment of Representative Kelly Cassidy and Senator Heather Steans and the support of Governor Pat Quinn.

TAKE ACTION: Thank Governor Quinn for signing the bill!

Cross-posted from The Chicago Tribune. 

These days, social media are a big part of politics. So when Rahm Emanuel embarked on his race for mayor of Chicago in 2010, it was no surprise to see @MayorEmanuel appear on Twitter.

The surprise came in the tweets, like a proposed campaign slogan: "Because Chicago is in a deeper (expletive) hole than the (expletive) Chilean miners. Vote Rahm." Or, when Wisconsin Democratic legislators fled to Illinois to prevent a vote: "(David) Axelrod and I just loaded the Civic up with beer. We're heading out to Rockford to (expletive) party with the exiled Wisconsin Democrats."

Anyone reading these profane messages would have needed, oh, five seconds to figure out the account was a joke. Nothing that sounded so much like the real Rahm could possibly be authentic. Emanuel took it in stride. "We check it periodically, and it's good for a few laughs," a press aide told the Tribune in 2011. Fun was had, and no harm was done.

Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis might have learned from that episode. In March, @peoriamayor started posting absurd messages like "I'm thinking it's a tequila and stripper night," and "Who stole my crack pipe?"
Anyone familiar with the earnest, clean-cut married father of three would quickly realize those tweets were not from Ardis. But instead of chuckling along with the few people following the account or shrugging it off, he took another approach: He ordered the police to find a way to shut it down.

The police tried to talk him out of it, explaining that no criminal law had been broken and that the tweets were not likely to sustain a defamation suit. They also reported it to Twitter, and the account was soon labeled a parody. But that wasn't enough for Ardis. Eventually, he prodded the cops to find the perpetrator, raid his house and seize his electronic devices.

The excessive reaction would be hilarious if it weren't so outrageous to punish a citizen merely because he poked fun at a public official. And now Ardis and other city officials are the object of a lawsuit by 29-year-old Jon Daniel. The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois says his constitutional rights were violated, and that claim seems plausible.

Ardis didn't do himself any favors when he recently appeared before reporters to defend himself and attack the news media. He insisted that his identity was stolen and that anyone seeing the account would believe it belonged to him. If the tweets were "harmless parody," he said, why didn't the press report the actual contents?

He then read aloud some of the more profane passages — which means that from now until the end of time, Web users will be able to see and hear Ardis uttering the same comments he claims were so damaging. You don't expect a mayor to stand before TV cameras and say, "Woke up with (bleep) on my breath and bloodshot eyes," but Ardis did.

If he hoped to deter other satirists by going after Daniel, he failed. There are now several other fake accounts, like @JimArdisMayor, which says, "Completely Real Mayor of Peoria AND I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN IF YOU PRETEND TO BE ME."

What started out as a trivial exercise in entertainment has brought the mayor, thanks to his own intemperance, nationwide ridicule and a legal fight he may lose. Years from now, his response will be studied as a model of what a public official can do to make a fool of himself. Peoria taxpayers surely have their own thoughts on a mayor who would waste the costly time of other high-ranking city employees on pursuing his private obsession.

In the meantime, two things are recommended for Ardis and anyone else who wants to take part in politics in the modern era: a thick skin and a sense of humor.

Cross-posted from The Chicago Tribune. 

Since the Illinois State Supreme Court struck down the state’s anti-eavesdropping law for being too broadly written it has been legal in Illinois to secretly record conversations without permission from either party. The Illinois Senate passed legislation, sponsored by Senator Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago), which would establish new guidelines tailored to today’s cell phone technology and supporters believe the State House could take up the issue during the veto session. Ed Yohnka, ACLU of Illinois Director of Communications and Public Policy, wishes the old law had not been struck down but pointed out legislators should craft a bill that includes:

“The continuation of all-party consent, which people in Illinois have really grown accustomed to, but also a bill that would recognize the evolving and changing dynamics of modern technology."

Read the entire article.