Moment of unity marred with Nazi salute

A student displayed a Nazi salute at the assembly celebrating the Scots Angel on March 4, in a clear violation of the Oregon state law known as Every Student Belongs.

Before presenting Olivia's family with a check, athletics director Brad Joy asked the student body to stand, form an "O" with their hands, and to sing Olivia "Happy Birthday." At this time, a student in the top of the freshmen section raised his arm in a Nazi salute.

The ‘Every Student Belongs’ Oregon statute was made law in 2021 and prohibits  swastikas and nooses and other images or actions at school that promote hateful ideologies. In the event of hate speech or images in schools, the law requires staff to commit to taking immediate action, to prevent further harm against people impacted from similar acts, and also to create instructional materials to teach about reporting procedures, educational processes, and possible consequences to staff and students.

The act of a Nazi salute may also fall under multiple categories in the student planner. Article 6, subsection Bias Incident, states that “expression of animus towards another person, relating to the other person's perceived race, color, religion, gender identity, sexual orientations, disability or national origin of which criminal investigation or prosecution is impossible or inappropriate. Bias incidents may include derogatory language or behavior directed at or about ant of the preceding demographic groups.” 

“Doing it in school can invite issues,” head of Student Management assistant principal Joe Talley said.  “In many cases it can be interpreted as hate speech. Doing it in an assembly is a bit of an issue, goes a bit beyond freedom of speech depending on how it's directed, but some kids are put up to doing it by other kids, as a prank or something similar.” 

“In most cases we bring students in to do restorative practices to try to educate the student because they may not understand what it meant or the historical perspective on it.” said Talley. “In this case and in other cases the students don’t understand the meaning behind it, and it's on us to educate them.”