http://www.journaltimes.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=2657
11/03: Separation of church and state school?
Posted by: Dustin
I understand the importance of the separation of church and state, but this
struck me was a bit odd ... anyone else?
UW-Eau Claire is reviewing legalities of Bible study ban
By CARRIE ANTLFINGER
Associated Press Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) — The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire is reviewing
the legalities of its policy banning resident assistants from leading Bible
studies in their dorms, a spokesman said Thursday.
The university’s associate director for housing and residence life sent
a letter last July to several resident assistants who had been leading
Bible studies.
Deborah Newman said in the letter that if the studies continued,
students might not find them “approachable” or might fear they’d be “judged
or pushed in a direction that does not work for them.” Newman added that
resident assistants who persist in holding Bible studies would face
disciplinary action.
One of the resident assistants, Lance Steiger, then contacted the
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education in Philadelphia. The group
sent a letter to the school Oct. 10, asking the school to end the ban and
tell the students they were no longer prohibited from conducting Bible
studies.
UW-Eau Claire spokesman Mike Rindo said Thursday the university
prohibits resident assistants from leading Bible studies or other
activities like partisan political events in the dorms. It doesn’t prohibit
them from attending them.
The university, which is about 250 miles northwest of Milwaukee, is
reviewing past policies and practices and getting advice from legal
counsel, Rindo said.
“What is appropriate and what isn’t — that is what we are asking,” he
said. “We are looking at every aspect of this.”
University officials plan to make a decision soon on the issue, Rindo
said.
Steiger, a senior business finance major, said the ban surprised him
because he never received complaints. He said the Bible studies, as part
the university’s chapter of Campus Crusade for Christ, never interfered
with his duties.
The 21-year-old went to the foundation after another resident assistant
approached Newman to unsuccessfully urge her to change the policy.
“Christians and non-Christians alike are surprised and usually their
first comment is,
’They can’t do that,”’ Steiger said.
Steiger said he continues to hold Bible studies in his dorm, but not in
his dorm room.
David French, the foundation’s president, said the ban is
unconstitutional and discriminatory.
By singling out the Bible studies, French said the university is
saying, “This speech is less valuable and more worthy of restriction than
other forms of speech.”
U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Green Bay, wrote a letter Thursday to the
university’s Interim Chancellor Vicki Lord Larson demanding the university
rescind its decision.
“This mandate is misguided, illegal and a clear affront to these
students’ religious liberty,” Green, a school alumnus, said in the letter.
Steiger said he doesn’t know what he’ll do next.
“I haven’t ruled anything out,” he said.
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Posting and reading from alt.politics.usa.constitution OR alt.education
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the U.S. and a couple from overseas as well]
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.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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