Friday, April 06, 2007

Victory for freedom of association at CMU

Reversal of Policy Forbidding Student Groups from 'Discriminating' on the Basis of Politics

In an important victory for free association, Central Michigan University (CMU) has revised a policy that banned ideological and political groups from “discriminating” on the basis of “political persuasion.” The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) urged CMU to change this policy after students who disagreed with the mission of the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) student organization attempted to become members of the group in order to destroy it from the inside.

“Central Michigan University should be commended for quickly fixing its constitutionally unsound ‘anti-discrimination’ policy,” FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. “Freedom of association means little if you cannot deny membership to people who do not share the core beliefs of the group. A conservative political student group should be allowed to ‘discriminate’ in its membership on the basis of political beliefs, just as liberal, objectivist, anarchist, or Whig party groups should be allowed to exclude members who don’t agree with their ideologies.”

YAF is a Registered Student Organization (RSO) at CMU described in its constitution as “a conservative non-partisan, non-sectarian voluntary educational organization.” Following an attempt by the CMU student government to derecognize YAF last February, YAF members report that students from various liberal student groups began attending and disrupting YAF meetings. On February 13, 2007, some students created a Facebook.com group entitled “People who believe the Young Americans for Freedom is a Hate Group,” where members posted messages suggesting ways to get YAF expelled from CMU. One post encouraged members of the Facebook group to attend YAF meetings, vote students opposing YAF’s mission into board positions, and thereby force YAF’s dissolution.

After learning of these proposed attempts to drive the group off campus, YAF President Dennis Lennox II e-mailed Assistant Director of Student Life Thomas H. Idema, Jr., on February 20 to inquire whether YAF could deny membership to individuals who publicly disagreed with YAF’s purpose. Idema responded in an e-mail by quoting from the non-discrimination clause of the RSO Manual, which states that “[a]n RSO may not discriminate in its membership criteria or leadership criteria on the basis of…political persuasion….” Idema further explained to Lennox that YAF could “not require members to be ‘like-minded’ as that opens [the group] up to discrimination based on political persuasion.”

Lennox contacted FIRE, which wrote to CMU President Michael Rao on March 16 reminding him that denying political or ideological student groups the right to associate with students who share the group’s beliefs violates the freedom of association afforded to all CMU students. FIRE explained that the U.S. Supreme Court addressed this exact situation in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000), when it held that “forced inclusion of an unwanted person in a group infringes the group’s freedom of expressive association if the presence of that person affects in a significant way the group’s ability to advocate public or private viewpoints.” FIRE also pointed out that CMU allows religious student groups to choose their membership based on shared beliefs, resulting in an inconsistency regarding the policy for secular student groups.

On March 27, CMU President Michael Rao informed FIRE that CMU would implement a new policy extending the rules in place for religious student groups to all belief-based student groups. The change was announced to all presidents of registered student groups in an e-mail from the Office of Student Life on March 28. The policy will supposedly be in place by the start of the next academic year.

“Going forward, members of any belief-based student organization at CMU can rest assured that outside opponents will not be able to overtake and undermine their group,” FIRE Vice President Robert Shibley said. “FIRE is deeply heartened that CMU has recognized its legal and moral duty to uphold the full extent of students’ right to freedom of association.”

Source






UK JEWISH LEADERS CONCERNED OVER UNIVERSITY APPOINTMENT

British Jewish leaders have spoken of their concern after a Haifa University lecturer who has called for a boycott of Israeli academics, was made Chair of History at Exeter University in the south of England. Ilan Pappe has published numerous books and essays accusing Israel of "ethnically cleansing" the Palestinians. "Zionism is far more dangerous to the safety of the Middle East than Islam," Pappe said in one interview recently and two years ago he was a major supporter of the Association of University Teachers' proposals for an academic boycott of Israel.

The Union of Jewish Students is one of a number of organisations who have said they are concerned about the appointment. Mitch Simmons of UJS told The Jewish Telegraph: We're concerned that his anti-Zionist views will spread to other British universities. If an Israel academic has been appointed with more balanced opinions, then that would be fine."

Jon Benjamin, Chief Executive of the Board of Deputies, said he was concerned that impressionable students may be "exposed to his biased views." Benjamin told TotallyJewish.com: "After taking full advantage of all the freedoms accorded to him in Israel, a country he has so shamelessly attacked, Pappe has decided to set up shop here. "Whilst this provides the opportunity for academics here to challenge him on his revisionist agenda, the uncomfortable fact is that in the lecture theatres and seminar rooms at Exeter, many impressionable young minds will be exposed to his partial and biased views."

Source

There is an amusing comment here on Pappe: "In both books Pappe in effect tells his readers: "This is what happened." This is strange, because it directly conflicts with a second major element in his historiographical outlook. Pappe is a proud postmodernist. He believes that there is no such thing as historical truth, only a collection of narratives as numerous as the participants in any given event or process; and each narrative, each perspective, is as valid and legitimate, as true, as the next. Moreover, every narrative is inherently political and, consciously or not, serves political ends. Each historian is justified in shaping his narrative to promote particular political purposes. Shlomo Aronson, an Israeli political scientist, years ago confronted Pappe with the ultimate problem regarding historical relativism: if all narratives are equally legitimate and there is no historical truth, then the narrative of Holocaust deniers is as valid as that of Holocaust affirmers. Pappe did not offer a persuasive answer, beyond asserting lamely that there exists a large body of indisputable oral testimony affirming that the Holocaust took place."





Caste quotas limited in India

India's struggles with the legacy of its ancient caste system took center stage again Thursday, with the highest court suspending a controversial government policy that reserved more seats at elite colleges for students born into "backward" classes. The policy sparked protests from students across the country when it was announced last year.

Top state-run colleges already reserve 22.5% of admissions for students from lower castes. However, last summer, the government said it wanted to create an additional quota of 27% for "other backward classes," a move that protesters charged was pandering for votes in a country that sees intense competition among millions of students each year for seats in the top-tier colleges.

On Thursday, a two-judge panel of the Supreme Court threw a wrench into the quota hike, asking the government to provide more accurate data on numbers and the educational status of lower-caste groups -called "other backward classes" - before implementing the new quotas. In a ruling that provided respite for protesting students, many of whom are from the upper castes, the bench said: "The state is empowered to enact affirmative action to help backward classes but it should not be unduly adverse to those who are left out of such action." It went on to observe: "Nowhere in the world do castes queue up to be branded as backward. Nowhere in the world is there a competition to become backward."

"We had raised doubts on the government's intentions and today the Supreme Court has given an order which serves a lesson to all opportunistic powers," Anil Sharma, a member of the voluntary group Youth for Equality, was quoted as saying. The group, which has close to 19,000 members, was started by students at medical colleges to protest the new policy. Youth for Equality and several other groups filed a public interest petition against the government policy last year.

Significantly, the court's main objection appeared to be that the policy relied on data collected in 1931. It did not seem to have an issue with the increase, per se. The government hasn't released exact figures on what percentage of the population "other backward classes" account for. Varying estimates put that number between 35% and 50%, and depending on what side of the fence they're on, interested groups choose what statistic to use. The last census in 2001 did not gather information on "other backward classes."

On its web site, Youth for Equality spotlights data from the elite Indian Institutes of Technology that shows that even the present quota of reserved seats is not fully filled. At the seven prestigious science and engineering schools, 50% of the reserved seats remain vacant, and about 25% of those who enroll under the quota system drop out. An estimated 33% of seats reserved for backward caste students in colleges reportedly go unused every year because there aren't enough students who meet basic admission criteria.

The pro-quota Communist Party of India (Marxist), which supports the ruling federal coalition, called the court ruling "unfortunate." "The judgment has ignored the fact that there are clear-cut lists of other backward classes in all the states," the party said in a statement. "It is on this basis that there is already reservation for OBCs in educational institutions in many states." And in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, which is vehemently in favor of affirmative action, the ruling coalition called a dawn-to-dusk strike for Friday to protest the move.

The Supreme Court ruling means upper-caste students applying to college this year will not have to face stiffer competition for fewer seats. But with the government determined to push the measure through, the issue is likely to come up again soon. And when it does, there will no doubt be more loud protests from students and plenty of political posturing.

Source

***************************

For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

The NEA and similar unions worldwide believe that children should be thoroughly indoctrinated with Green/Left, feminist/homosexual ideology but the "3 R's" are something that kids should just be allowed to "discover"


For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here. For times when blogger.com is playing up, there are mirrors of this site here and here.

***************************

No comments: