NJ 6th Grader Gets Detention For Saying ‘Vegetarians Are Idiots’

After a lengthy appeals process, a sixth grader in Montgomery, N.J., was given detention for telling a fellow student who told him he didn’t eat meat that “vegetarians are idiots” and advising the young herbivore “he should eat meat because he’d be smarter and have bigger brains.”

Nearly two years of appeals later, the punishment for the “bullying,” which occurred on Oct. 30, 2014, has been given the stamp of approval by the state education commissioner’s office, The Asbury Park Press reports.

“The case rose to the commissioner’s office because the student’s parent contested the district’s finding that the remarks about vegetarianism constituted bullying,” according to the Press.

Lesley Haas, a guidance counselor and the school’s anti-bullying specialist, found that the comments were bullying according to state law because they touched on the vegetarian student’s “distinguishing characteristic,” “substantially interfered with” his rights and “had the effect of insulting or demeaning him.”