At the beginning of Homecoming week, Spartan Assembly’s junior class created a poster labeled “2026 Brat.” To their surprise, administration requested the poster be removed because they felt it held political connotations referring to Kamala Harris.

Charli XCX, a popular English singer, released her album, Brat, on June 7. The new album inspired many trends among teenagers, leading to the creation of the trend known as brat summer. On an Instagram post, she described the Brat album as “me, me flaws, my mess ups, my ego all rolled into one.”

Younger generations adopted the idea of brat – embracing imperfections. This quickly spiraled into one of the hottest trends of the summer.

Eventually, political campaigns caught onto the “brat summer” trend.  On many social media platforms, specifically TikTok, Kamala Harris HQ has posted a lot relating to the Brat album, and has used the trend to gain attention and attract young voters. “We all know it is coming from the new identification with what brat means in the new Charlie XCX album. But it has also taken on a political undertone,” dean of students Jamie Homb stated.

After staff realized the alleged political connotation related to brat summer, administration discussed many courses of action related to the poster. “Administration didn’t know what brat was so they looked it up and Harris’s entire page was about brat, so they said there was some kind of political connotation with it supporting Democrats,” said Spartan Assembly member Juha Kim. 

Due to this, administration suggested taking down the poster to not cause trouble with the school board. “We discussed that and decided it would be best in everyone’s interest to not provoke some sensitivity because political stuff right now is a hot topic,” explained Homb.

Political topics have become an increasingly sensitive topic in schools following the passing of new laws that restrict what can be taught in the classroom. Iowa House File 802 prohibits the teaching of specific topics in relation to sexism and racism, and Iowa Senate File 496 changes standards in what curricular materials are allowed in schools.

By restricting political views, these laws could lead to an environment in schools where some students feel hesitant to express their opinions on controversial topics.

All of these laws passed in a short time frame has led to uncertainty about what students believe can and cannot be stated in regard to political opinions at school. These laws were developed to prevent educators and institutions from influencing the political views of their students but not to prevent students from having or expressing their own views. 

This story was originally published on Spartan Shield on October 1, 2024.