Tag Archives: Topic: Education

Angelo M. Codevilla at The American Spectator (7/16/2010): The only serious opposition to this arrogant Ruling Party is coming not from feckless Republicans but from what might be called the Country Party — and its vision is revolutionary. Our special Summer Issue cover story.

Catholic Culture: In “Queering Schools, GSAs and the Law: Taking on God”–an excerpt from the book The Gay Agenda: Claiming Space, Identity & Justice–a law professor at the University of Manitoba calls for changes in “state-issued law and policy approaches” to ensure that Canadian schools, including Catholic schools, become “queered.”

AZ Central: The Arizona Legislature has been told by an appeals court that it cannot pick and choose which parts of a voter-approved school funding initiative it wants to pay.

One News Now: “The military unfortunately has been yielding to a radical agenda to the point of even allowing same-sex marriage at the historic West Point Chapel,” Col. Crews laments. “But yet they are unsure, it appears, that allowing prayers at official events can be continued.” David Hacker, senior legal counsel for ADF, cites the Constitution. “The First Amendment allows public officials to acknowledge our nation’s religious heritage,” he notes. “Anti-religious groups with misguided ideas about the First Amendment should not be allowed to destroy a time-honored, perfectly constitutional American custom.”

Religion Clause Blog: As the new semester begins at American law schools, here is a guide to in-print casebooks and materials for teaching of law school courses on religious liberty or law and religion. Books are listed by date of publication, most recent first . . .

The Blaze: “Since the Revolution, the U.S. Army has offered soldiers the opportunity to hear invocations. West Point has continued this tradition since its founding in 1802,” wrote David Hacker, Alliance Defending Freedom’s senior legal counsel. “Anti-religious groups with misguided ideas about the First Amendment should not be allowed to destroy a time-honored and perfectly constitutional American custom.”

Liberty Institute: Today, Liberty Institute, on behalf of Jackson City School District, responded to demand letters from the Freedom From Religion Foundation and ACLU regarding the school’s longstanding “Hall of Honor” display that contains a portrait of Jesus. The FFRF requested that the school remove the portrait of Jesus, which has been a fixture at the school for more than 65 years without complaint.  Read copies of the response letters to the FFRF and ACLU.

Christian Post: Stanford Law School has established the nation’s only Religious Liberty Clinic, enabling students under the professor’s supervision to represent clients who are fighting to win legal battles on the grounds of religious freedom in America.

Religion Clause Blog: A Cheektowaga, New York high school science teacher has filed a federal court lawsuit against her school district complaining that she was required to remove all personal non-curricular items of a religious nature from her classroom and refrain from promoting religion in her communications with students. The complaint (full text) in Silver v. Cheektowaga Central School District, (WD NY, filed 1/10/2013) . . .

Travis C. Barham at Speak Up Movement: Years ago, Abigail Thernstrom described universities as “islands of repression in a sea of freedom.” More recently, several columnists have highlighted how the effort to indoctrinate students pervades virtually every aspect of campus life.

The Hill: Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) on Thursday blasted a federal grant to a North Carolina college that requires the college library to “introduce Muslim cultures to Americans.”

ACLU Press Release: A statewide tuition tax-credit program that would divert taxpayer funds to private religious schools in violation of the state constitution was challenged in a New Hampshire court today by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of New Hampshire and the Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter Wednesday on behalf of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty to the United States Military Academy at West Point after a secularist group protested invocations at various West Point events.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys sent a letter Tuesday to the Chambersburg Area School District after an atheist group complained about the selection of songs included in an annual Christmas performance by the Chambersburg Area Senior High School’s Glee Club.

NY Post: Mark Krolikowski claims he was branded as “worse than gay” and relieved of his responsibilities after he admitted to school officials two years ago that he was transgender, according to a new lawsuit.

Mirror of Justice: am not attending the AALS conference this year, but I thought to reproduce (with permission) a message on a constitutional law listserv that I’m on, written by Pepperdine law professor Mark Scarberry. Mark reports his impressions of a presentation by UC Irvine law dean Erwin Chemerinsky . . .

Public Opinion: Chambersburg Area School District community members are upset a Wisconsin organization is trying to end one of the district’s longest-standing traditions. By some reports, the CASHS’ Glee Club’s annual performance of “The Song of Christmas” has surpassed six decades.

WOUB.org: It has been a picture on the wall since the 1940s. Thousands of Jackson City Schools students have passed by the portait, perhaps some never realizing it was even there. Now a group based in Wisconsin, want the portait of Jesus Christ, that hangs above an entrance at Jackson Middle School, to be taken down, for what they say is a violation of the First Amendment.

Times Picayune: Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration is taking its fight for private school vouchers to the Louisiana Supreme Court, after a district court judge ruled that the way the state is financing the program is illegal.

One News Now: In offering benefits to same-sex partners of employees, a Texas family values spokesman says a local school district is flagrantly violating the state’s constitution . . . Texas Values and the Alliance Defending Freedom are asking Attorney General Greg Abbott to rule this new policy unconstitutional.

U.S. News and World Report: Catholic and mainstream Protestant support for prayer in schools has sharply declined since the 1970s, while Evangelical support for the practice has remained steady according to a new study released Thursday.

WYFF4.com: An Upstate school district has gotten a complaint from a national organization that’s upset about the way the district opens their meetings. The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter of complaint to the School District of Pickens County after someone complained to the organization.

Jeremy Tedesco at Townhall: Alliance Defending Freedom recently settled a lawsuit brought on behalf of Julea Ward, a former graduate student at Eastern Michigan University who was expelled from her counseling program after refusing to violate her religious beliefs. Media reports have unfortunately suggested that Julea’s lawsuit involved her refusal to counsel a client because he identified as gay: this is untrue.

Education News: An Indiana state senator has introduced a bill that would give the state’s public schools the option to require recitation of the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of each school day.

WDTN.com: Humanist and secular groups have joined the side of an Ohio school board in a court battle over the firing of a public school science teacher who kept a Bible on his desk and was accused of preaching religious beliefs in class.

JDNews.com: An area church rallied outside the Onslow County Courthouse and the Onslow County School Board building this week, on a mission to put prayer back in schools.

Religion Clause Blog: YNet News and JTA have both reported recently on an unusual Dec. 21 ruling by a court in Antwerp, Belgium ordering an Orthodox Jewish school for girls affiliated with the Belz Hasidic movement to admit two boys to study there.

Education News: …“socially conservative” independent faith schools – the vast majority of them Muslim – where pupils may be encouraged to cut themselves off from mainstream society.

Georgetown Times: On Sept. 18, the Georgetown County School Board — for the first time — began its meeting with a moment of silence rather than a prayer. The decision to make the change was made by chairman Jim Dumm who said he was following the advice of board attorney David Duff. Duff said because of an investigation into religious activities being conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union, the district needed to stop the practice of praying at board meetings and other district events. The interpretation of the law by the ACLU has been challenged by both the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Palmetto Family Council.

Speak Up Movement Blog: If same-sex “marriage” becomes the law of the land, then we are only fooling ourselves to believe our schools will remain enclaves of neutrality where the issue is not addressed. On the contrary, schools will undoubtedly be required to affirm such “marriages” in their health and family curriculum. Students who oppose such “marriages” on religious grounds will be labeled “intolerant” and forced to undergo “re-education” to help reform their “outdated” way of thinking to the new “normal.” This is already happening across our country.

OnIslam.net: A British primary school has been taken to court over refusing to allow a female pupil to wear hijab (Muslim headscarf).

Minding the Campus: Failing Law Schools, a recent book by Brian Z. Tamanaha, a law professor who has also been a law dean, savages American legal education–and rightly so. Tamanaha’s criticisms go something like this: the ABA accreditors and their allies control and dictate to legal educators. The controllers are the deans, professors, librarians, etc. who use accreditation to force on all schools their desired model of legal education, a model which is beneficial to the faculty.

Education News: Today the ranks of home-schoolers are overwhelmingly Christian, and 78% of parents attend church frequently. According to the National Household Education Survey in 2007, the main motivation for home schooling was for religious or moral instruction (36%), followed by school environment (21%) and the quality of instruction available (17%). After this comes concerns about special education, the distance of travel and even nut allergies.

Moscow Times: President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed new legislation prescribing norms for all levels of education and setting new rules for teachers’ salaries and school fees, a statement on the Kremlin’s website said.

Religion Clause Blog: The Becket Fund announced yesterday that it has filed a petition for certiorari (full text) with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the 7th Circuit’s decision in Doe 3 v. Elmbrook School District.

JTA.org: A building housing a synagogue and Jewish day school in Worcester, a city in central Massachusetts, has been seized by the Internal Revenue Service.

Matt Sharp appeared on the Vicki McKenna Show to discuss this: Montana school accused of bullying for including Christmas carols in school performance. | MP3 audio 11:42 mins

David Hacker at the Speak Up Movement Blog: We have a lot to be thankful for this year at Alliance Defending Freedom as our clients prevailed time and again in cases across the country. Here’s a recap of the top university victories in 2012 . . .

One News Now: Rory Gray of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) tells OneNewNow In Our Mothers’ House by Patricia Polacco depicts the happy life of a same-sex couple and their adopted children. But after receiving a number of complaints, a Davis School District review committee stipulated the book be made available only with parental permission. [more . . . ]

One News Now: Alliance Defending Freedom’s Matt Sharp points out that God is being left out as a solution in the debates about what to do to protect children in schools from another massacre like the one in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14th. But that, he says, is exactly the opposite of what this country needs. “We really need to call out for everyone to kind of return to God in times like this, to realize that He is the true source of our strength, our source that descends through so many scriptures — from the psalmist about God is our refuge and the cleft in the rock that hides us in times like this Psalm 18:2; 46:1),” the legal counsel cites.

World Magazine: Matt Sharp of Alliance Defending Freedom said, “Courts have responded in favor of schools playing Christmas music, as long as it serves an overall educational purpose.” Candi Cushman, an education analyst with CitizenLink, which is associated with Focus on the Family, said, “From what we’ve seen, the school appears to have chosen a perfectly reasonable, balanced mix of songs like ‘Up on a House Top’ and ‘Joy to the World’ and has correctly emphasized that the musical program serves an educational purpose, reflecting long-standing, nationwide traditions.” I can respect the fact that Christmas songs might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if this is bullying, then no public expression of Christianity, no matter how banal and innocuous, is safe from censure.

“Americans United for Separation of Church and State today asked the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to stop including prayers during official events. In a letter to Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. David H. Huntoon and other officials, Americans United asserted that the academy’s prayer policy runs afoul of the Constitution and violates the rights of cadets.”

WorldNetDaily: An appeals court panel in Sweden has imposed the “death penalty” on a homeschooling family, granting the state full custody of their son, who famously was “state-napped” from a jetliner in 2009 as the family prepared to move to India. The appeals panel reversed a lower court ruling that granted Annie and Christer Johansson custody of their son, Domenic. But if the decision is not reversed again by the nation’ Supreme Court, the Johansson’s will lose their son, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association, which has been working on the case with the Alliance Defending Freedom . . .

WorldNetDaily: More than six of 10 colleges and universities across the United States have yet to figure out the First Amendment, because their “speech codes” conflict with the Constitution, according to a new report from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. “FIRE surveyed 409 schools for this report and found that over 62 percent maintain severely restrictive . . .

Christian Institute: A male teacher at a Church of England primary school in Lancashire is to return next year as a female because he is “transitioning to live as a woman”.

Daily Caller: If the threatened lawsuit by the unnamed parents materializes, it would face substantial legal hurdles according to David Cortman, an attorney who specializes in the First Amendment at Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative-leaning nonprofit. “It doesn’t create a constitutional crisis to sing Christmas songs at Christmastime,” Cortman told the Daily Mail. “If every time there was a piece of art or classical musical with a religious theme, we censored it, we would be eliminating much from the students’ education.”

Jordan Lorence at Townhall: Each year, misguided government officials and fearful corporate executives try to censor expressions of Christmas, and, each year, after people object, others deny such censorship exists. But it does. This year’s examples include . . .

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys sent a letter Wednesday to Missoula County Public Schools after the district faced complaints that certain religious songs should not be included in a Christmas performance by children at Chief Charlo Elementary school.

Todd Starnes at Fox News: “For them to include traditional religious Christmas carols is perfectly constitutional,” said Matt Sharp, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom. “The courts have clearly held that it’s constitutional for schools to include traditional religious carols as part of a secular educational music program.” The ADF said they sent a letter to the Missoula, Mont. School district advising them of their rights under the law and offered to give them legal support in the event of a lawsuit.

Alan Sears at Alliance Defending Freedom: If you’ve followed the work of Alliance Defending Freedom for long, you won’t be surprised to learn that, at Christmas time as throughout the year, Christian college students across the country – including your children and grandchildren – have to contend with administrators (paid by your tax dollars) who leave “no room in the inn” for faith and free expression.

Jeremy Tedesco at the Speak Up Movement Blog: Alliance Defending Freedom recently settled the lawsuit it brought on behalf of Julea Ward against Eastern Michigan University. EMU expelled Julea–a stellar student with a 3.91 GPA who was nearly done with the program–for merely inquiring whether she should refer a client with whom she had a values conflict

KTVU.com: The Young Americans for Liberty at UC Berkeley, a campus libertarian group, started their protest around 10 a.m. at Sproul Plaza to speak out against a November decision by the Associated Students of the University of California Senate to ban the charitable group from campus because of its alleged homophobic practices.

California Catholic Daily: The student government at the University of California-Berkeley passed a resolution last month that would ban Salvation Army bell ringers and their iconic red kettles from campus this Christmas because of the Christian organization’s alleged bias against homosexuality.

Catholic Culture: The agreement with the Republic of China (Taiwan) contrasts dramatically with the situation in mainland China, where the Church has vigorously protested the government’s efforts to exert control over Catholic institutions.

Mercator.net: Research showing problems with homosexual parenting continues to grow with the release of a study showing that the children of heterosexual couples are more likely to progress in primary school than children from a same-sex household. The study, “Nontraditional Families and Childhood Progress Through School: A Comment on Rosenfeld”, is a re-examination of a study by Michael J. Rosenfeld of Stanford University’s Department of Sociologypublished in 2010. The new study, led by Douglas W Allen, and published by the academic journal Demography, found that the children from a heterosexual household are “35 percent more likely to make typical school progress”.

Missoulian: A group of parents at Chief Charlo Elementary School are so upset over the selection of songs for the school’s holiday music program they are considering legal counsel.

Inside Higher Ed: The six-month lifespan of Queer at Patrick Henry College, a blog focusing on the struggles of gay students at the evangelical Christian college in Virginia, has been turbulent, to say the least.

Kevin Theriot appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss the Julia Ward case. | MP3 audio 14:38 mins

AP: A Central Texas school board is banning the Confederate battle flag from district property and district-sponsored events.

Peter Baklinski at LifeSiteNews: The government of Quebec is forcing Catholic schools to replace the Christian religion with the state’s “neutral” alternative based on moral relativism.

How Appealing links to a report and the ruling in Dixon v. U. of Toledo.

Ed News: This year religious schools accounted for six out of 10 primaries where every pupil reached the expected standard for English and maths at the age of 11.

AP: Public school yoga instructor Katie Campbell proudly looks out at 23 first graders as they contain their squirming in a kid-friendly version of the lotus position.

The First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech applies to the states through its incorporation into the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Students in schools retain First Amendment rights; however, school officials, acting as parens patriae, have latitude to discipline students for their speech in some instances. This analysis will focus on the First Amendment rights of students, with particular emphasis on off-campus speech. Part one will discuss the Supreme Court precedent on the issue of student speech on and off the school campus. Part II will analyze the inconsistencies among the lower courts when addressing student speech cases. Part III will summarize the current state of student speech litigation, and Part IV will examine the New York City Department of Education’s policies related to student speech.

Alliance Defending Freedom Blog: You’ll be shocked at the unconstitutional tactics colleges and universities use to silence and intimidate Christians. On campuses all across America, school officials . . .

LA Times: Score a big victory for critics of the University of California’s contemporary-style and much derided new logo. Responding to a online wave of revolt against the sculptural design, university officials announced Friday that they are suspending further use of the logo.

Independent: Organisers behind a British conference on Islam and evolution say they nearly had to cancel the event after receiving a torrent of opposition from Muslim students at one of the country’s top scientific universities, The Independent has leanred.

Barbara Kay at the National Post: In 2008, however, Quebec introduced a province-wide program called Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) running throughout elementary school, and all but one high school year. Every Quebec student — even the homeschooled — is obligated to take this state-composed program. And teachers, whatever their beliefs or religious affiliation, must teach it.

Baptist Press: ADF is pleased Ward and “her constitutionally protected rights have been vindicated,” said a spokesman for the legal organization. “Public universities shouldn’t force students to violate their religious beliefs to get a degree. The 6th Circuit rightly understood this and ruled appropriately, so the university has done the right thing in settling this case,” ADF Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco said in a written release.

Business Insider: Not only do they want their tuition back, but graduates suing their law schools want the institutions to own up to their alleged lies.

The College Fix (includes video): A parade of University of Virginia students filmed a YouTube video recently that praised a row of twinkling Christmas trees and other holiday fare adorning a row of front porches along the school’s famed Lawn dorms and pitched administrators to let the decorations stay -but alas- campus officials told students to pack it up

Heather Gebelin Hacker at Speak Up Movement: At Christmas, one would hope that the only controversy surrounding the Salvation Army and their iconic bell ringers would be their fictional dispute with Homelessville and Justin Timberlake. But for a student body obsessed with political correctness at any cost, the mere presence of the bell ringers near campus doing their traditional collection of funds for the needy is intolerable if they are doing so in the name of a Christian organization.

San Diego Gay and Lesbian News: Elizabeth L. Hillman, a respected scholar in military law and history who was part of the fight to overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” has been appointed Academic Dean at the University of California Hastings College of the Law.

LifeSiteNews: The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has launched a federal investigation over a conversation between a Huntsville JROTC instructor and a lesbian student about the Bible and homosexuality.

WorldNetDaily: ADF said even though counseling referrals are a common and accepted professional practice, the university instead chose to expel Ward “when she sought to avoid violating her religious beliefs by referring a potential client to another counselor.” Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco, who argued before the court in October of last year, said public universities “shouldn’t force students to violate their religious beliefs to get a degree.” “The 6th Circuit rightly understood this and ruled appropriately, so the university has done the right thing in settling this case,” he said. “When Julea sought to refer a potential client to another qualified counselor – a common, professional practice that is endorsed by her profession’s code of ethics – EMU denied the referral. Then it attacked and questioned her religious beliefs, ultimately expelling her from the program. We are pleased that Julea and her constitutionally protected rights have been vindicated.”