A College Victory for Free Speech
Sara Sloan of
Sara graduated in December 2007 from the community college with her Associates Degree and is now pursuing a Bachelors Degree at another college. During her time as a community college student, Sara wrote for her colleges official newspaper as a staff writer, news editor, and religion editor. She interned for several independent newspapers, publishing a large number of articles on a variety of topics and receiving excellent reviews.
Sara worked diligently to achieve a certificate of completion in journalism in addition to her Associates degree. She earned As in all of the journalism courses required for this certificate and was exempted from taking several final exams due to her outstanding grades. The final requirement to achieve this certificate was to have a portfolio of articles 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.
Saras portfolio 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 that Sara submitted contained little, if any, discussion of religious or moral themes.
Sara was quite surprised when she was told that she would not receive the certificate. Her professor informed Sara that she needed to receive 6 out of 9 passing votes from the jury, but she had only received 5 passing votes. It soon became apparent that Saras Christian beliefs and viewpoints played a major role in the jurys 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 . . . .
On December 13, 2007, we sent a demand letter to the colleges attorney regarding the denial of Saras First Amendment rights. On December 19, 2007, we received a response back from the attorney stating that he was in the process of reviewing the matter with the college. We sent a follow-up e-mail on December 28, 2007.
On January 15, 2008, Saras unofficial online transcript stated that she would receive the journalism certificate, although she had not heard anything back from the college about her situation. We sent a follow-up letter that day to the colleges attorney requesting that he contact us.
On January 25, 2008, Sara received a letter stating that her degree and her certificate of completion in journalism were available to be picked up at the college. Sara went to the college and was able to pick up both her degree and her certificate. ACLJ Staff Counsel Erik Zimmerman spoke with Sara and her mother, and they were very pleased with this result. They were confident that the ACLJs letter made the difference in Sara receiving her certificate.