The religious rights of teachers

I read an article that discussed a teacher wh had been fired  by the Mount Vernon school district because of accusations that he had "used a scientific device to burn a cross image onto a student's arm and of keeping a Bible on his desk." This teacher, John Freshwater, was suing the school district for $1 million, claiming that his free speech and civil rights had been violated. I was shocked by Freshwater's outrage; it seemed clear to me that not only had he abused a student by branding the individual with a religion emblem, but had also misrepresented the school's religious affiliation. Public schools are meant to be arenas in which education is the primary concern. Because of the sensitivity of religion and individuals' strong convictions surrounding religion, encorporating religion and allowing it to pervade public school systems would certainly interfere with the students' learning.

Therefore, the Mount Vernon school district's decision to terminate Freshwater's employment was certainly justified, seeing as how, in branding religious symbols on students and clearly showing his own religious convictions, he was acting as his own obstacle in being able to execute his job as purely an educator.

"Seven Days in September"

After watching the film "Seven Days in September" I was particularly struck by the strength shown by the New Yorkers. Through the footage caught while the attacks had just occurred and the towers were falling, I saw how calm everyone seemed. Perhaps "calm" is not the most accurate word to use-- everyone was clearly confused and distraught over the situation that was unfolding around them-- but there was little trace of hysteria or panic. It seemed as though everyone knew that the gravity of the situation as whole superceded their own momentary fears.


This same degree of moral courage was displayed in the footage that was caught a few days after 9/11, especially in the scenes of the crowds debating in Union Park. The intense frustrations that everyone seemed to be carrying was matched only by their levels of compassion for one another. I was particularly struck by the scene in which a man and a woman are arguing, only to realize that they do not understand what they are arguing about and eventually end up embracing each other in tears, admitting their anger as misdirected fear and frustration towards the crisis as a whole. 


While the film masterfully captured the harsh reality of 9/11 and the massive amounts of destruction that occurred as a result, it was comforting to see the focus of the film being on the resultant kindness and unity that was elicited from a group of people who ordinarily lived very isolated from one another.

Why racism can sometimes mean freedom

Recently in class we have been discussing speech codes and their place in universities. One of the activites we completed to explore this issue was visiting FIRE's website. FIRE states their mission is to protect students' freedom of speech and prevent university speech codes from infringing up their First Amendment rights. However, I believe that FIRE is more than slightly overzealous in their mission. While the organization seems to have good intentions, it is necessary that FIRE recognize the dual importance of both tolerance and civility along with the freedom of expression. While I understand how this organization views certain speech codes as restrictive--many are--they are nontheless there as a means to protect students from malicious and harmful behavior that would ultimately negatively impact the educational environment of a university.

I have had some difficulty coming to a clear conclusion on the legitimacy of these speech codes. Having already established that the intent of these codes is not to infringe upon students' rights or make a university a purely totalitarian environment devoid of personal freedoms, the flipside of this issue needs to be addressed as well.

In class we also explored the issue of students at various universities holding "Jim Crow parties" and holding various other racist parties. Although I would personally would wish to see anyone who engages in such tasteless behavior as holding "Jim Crow parties" or insinuating lynchings be severly punished, one must view this issue through an objective lens. Just as one would have to, unfortunately, tolerate a Ku Klux Klan rally in the 'real world', students ought to be afforded the these same rights of self-expression while in college, independent of how offensive they may be to certain individuals.