The Board Decides​

"The school officials must impose rules to carry out their educational responsibilities."
​- Dr. Ely, Community Member

The Iowan community expressed their divided views through media, the majority doubting the student’s maturity on issues like war.  
Letters to the editor , expressing opinions on armbands - Source: The Des Moines Register- Click pictures to Enlarge
The students felt discriminated by the School Board’s decision upholding the policy and suspension. Undeterred, the students returned to schools after the Board's decision without the armbands, wearing all black clothing.

"Roosevelt students had not been prohibited earlier for wearing black armbands in mourning for Negro children killing in a southern church bombing or, another time in mourning for the deaths of the 'school spirits.'"     
​- Bruce Clark, the suspended Roosevelt student 

Threats

“At night I would lie in my bed wondering, ‘If someone throws a grenade through the window, what will I do? Dive into the closet? Put the mattress over my head?’ ”
- John Tinker

The students remained firm in their beliefs despite facing consequences, multiple threats, and hate mail calling them “peace mongers,” “communists,” and “radical extremists.”
​
​“John Tinker was aggressively dunked and held underwater by a classmate who punctuated his actions with an expression of dislike for John’s politics. The swimming teacher who saw it and took no action.”
- Excerpt from "The Struggle for Student Rights" ​

“My girlfriend dropped me and told me I could no longer come over to her house. Her father was a former military officer.”
​- Christopher Eckhardt​
 Threat letters to the Tinker's. Courtesy of Mary Beth Tinker - Click pictures to enlarge
"Eckhardt's received a number of anonymous telephone calls - 'you’re looking for trouble and you're going to get it'.  There was an anonymous note that read - 'Go back to Russia if you like communism so much'.  A postcard addressed to - Herr Doctor Wilhelm E. Eckhardt and Frau Margt. Eckhardt and an anonymous letter with the message - 'the shoe is becoming tighter and tighter for you Eckhardt.'"
- Excerpt from "The Struggle for Student Rights."
Though subjected to humiliation by some teachers and students, John Tinker continued to talk against war at every opportunity. Committed, Christopher Eckhardt wrote a parody for a literature assignment and a letter urging President Johnson to end the war.
Excerpted From "The Struggle for Student Rights" with permission from author: John Johnson - Click to enlarge