Viewpoint --
School tries to side step student freedoms
by Brian Shults, se news editor

    Bigotry makes me tired.

   An article in the Star-Telegram Jan. 6 stated Martin High School in Arlington was doing its best to quietly quash a student from forming a campus organization out of fear of what “the next-door neighbors might think.”

   In an effort to restrain student Jesse Brown from forming a Gay-Straight Alliance, the principal, Laura Jones, said the school would likely shut down all non-academic clubs if he formed the organization. According to the article, Jones also pressured the Alliance’s faculty sponsor to step down to “maintain good relations with the children, parents and the community.” One might infer it was a matter of job security.

   Approximately 1,000 Gay-Straight Alliances exist in this country. The clubs begin as a forum for gay and non-homophobic students to promote tolerance in their schools.

   In 1984 Congress passed the Equal Access Act, stating public schools that allow non-curricular organizations must also allow student religious groups to participate equally. This First Amendment victory for free speech and assembly applies to all organizations, religious or otherwise.

   The Equal Access Act allows groups such as the Baptist Student Organization or the Muslim Student Organization to confer on school grounds, on a voluntary basis, without violating the establishment clause. Everyone in the school or the community may not agree with their ideology. Nevertheless, it is their constitutional right.

   So it goes with the Gay-Straight Alliance. After conferring with attorneys (presumably at taxpayer expense), administrators found the club is not in conflict with district policy and has a constitutional right. This realization prompted Jones to inform Brown that if the organization was formed and she deemed it a distraction to the educational process, she would terminate all student organizations in order to stay within the scope of the Equal Access Act. The school administration believes it can ensure equal access by barring any access and can accomplish all this while fostering a healthy learning atmosphere. Not likely.

   Imagine Brown did begin the organization; then imagine the school abolished all extracurricular clubs, and then imagine the disruption that action would cause to the other students. Not only would it interfere with all students’ education, but others would probably blame Brown for causing the shut-down. Brown, a senior this year, probably does not want to graduate being viewed as an adversary by his classmates. And it appears the school administration did not shy away from exploiting these potential outcomes when discouraging Brown with its public comments.

   The Rev. Dwight McKissic also expressed his disapproval of the organization in the article.

   “Moral values should be taught by the parents and the church. That (the Gay-Straight Alliance) would be a shame and a blight on the citizenry of Arlington that would deserve the community’s outrage,” he said.

   I disagree.

   A blight on our community is bigotry. A blight would be not allowing students to meet and form a voluntary Christian organization. A blight would be stifling individuality by using the school system as a blunt instrument of questionable integrity to teach moral values. A blight on the community is an individual who forwards an agenda at the expense of another’s constitutional rights.

   The Rev. McKissic’s qualms are moot. The Gay-Straight Alliance is not attempting to teach morals. The Alliance can exist as a student organization simultaneously with Martin students, who define their own morality. Student organizations are voluntary; nothing is coerced. The Alliance would no more force its ideology on other students than the Baptist Student Organization does; individual morality and student organizations can be mutually exclusive. Ironically, after Brown revealed his sexual orientation, Martin’s Christian student prayer club, Seekers, asked him to relinquish his leadership position.

   Individuality and the expression of individuality are invaluable assets to the community and the nation. Individuality breeds strength and virtuous people.

   Yet, public schools continually have a tempestuous relationship with individualism among students in the name of avoiding disruption in the educational environment. Body piercings, dyed hair and baggy clothes can be modes of expression regulated by the school. Teachers must disrupt class and spend time enforcing these asinine rules.

   Administrations set guidelines for the students’ appearances. Anything contrary is considered a disruption. Frequently, the disruptive qualities are not given a second glance by the younger generation they are imposed upon. A nose ring does not threaten them, but it does some adults. Thus, they pass judgment and make rules, which conceivably cause the disruption they are intended to prevent.

   Our community should strike a tone of acceptance. We are recovering from a heinous act of terrorism. Do we want to allow outdated prejudices to corrode our unity?