Free Speech Denied on College Campus
We recently sent out a legal demand letter to a community college in
Sara has been working diligently to achieve the Occupational Journalism Certificate in addition to her associates degree. She earned As in every journalism course required for this certificate and has been exempted from taking several final exams due to her outstanding grades.
The final requirement for a student to receive the Occupational Journalism Certificate is to have a portfolio of the students work approved by a jury that the professor puts together to review the students work. This jury consists of nine writers, editors, and producers from various media companies that have been asked by the professor to serve on the jury.
Sara submitted her portfolio which included several articles along with a description of her personal background and aspirations. One of her articles was based on a telephone interview that she had with Kirk Cameron, best known for his role as Mike Seaver on the 1980s sitcom, Growing Pains. Kirk now serves with the Christian television and radio ministry, The Way of the Master. Saras professor was pleased with the article at the time it was published. The other articles she submitted contained little, if any, discussion of religious or moral themes.
Earlier this month, after Sara believed that she had successfully fulfilled all of the requirements for the certificate, her professor informed her that she would not be awarded the certificate. She explained that Sara needed to receive 6 out of 9 passing votes from the jury, but she had only received 5 votes.
While the professor was initially reluctant to provide an explanation for why 4 jurors voted to fail Sara, it soon became apparent that Saras Christian beliefs and viewpoints played a major role in the decision. Sara was appalled when she reviewed the written comments made by a few of the jurors that voted to deny her the certificate. For example, one juror said the following in explaining his vote to fail Sara:
Regrettably, I have to say No to Sara[]. I just dont feel that Sara is quite ready for the world of secular journalism. . . . [M]y main problem with [Sara] is that she seems to approach all of her stories from a moralistic or even religious bent. . . . Now, there is nothing wrong with that if she wants to be a writer for religious publications . . . but I dont think her style would be acceptable in a publication of general circulation. . . . At base, I think [Sara] has ample skills to find work in specialized publications but if the question were to be put to me to hire her or not, I would have to say not for most publications on the market place.
Another juror said the following with regard to the Kirk Cameron article in support of her vote to fail Sara:
You identify yourself as a Christian in your bio, and that certainly comes through in the bias of this article. . . . I believe it would be a turn-off to any religion editor or reader who wasnt a born again Christian. . . . I would have found a way to make this article relevant and inspirational even to readers who arent hard-core Christians. This was a close call . . . .
Sara was denied her Certificate by one vote because two of the jurors recognized her journalistic abilities but voted against her because she incorporated a faith perspective into some of her articles.
Our letter to the college demanded a response by Tuesday. We will keep you posted as this case progresses.