Anti-Islam shirts draw suit
excerpt from the Gainsville Sun websiteUPDATE at 4:15 p.m. -- The American Civil Liberties Union has sued a central Florida school district. The lawsuit claims the Alachua County School District violated students' rights by not allowing them to wear T-shirts with an anti-Islamic message.
Jackie Johnson, school district spokeswoman, said they have not seen the lawsuit yet.
"We still stand by our decision to enforce our dress code to prevent students from wearing items that are distracting or disruptive to the learning environment," Johnson said.
Read the rest of the news article here:
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20091123/ARTICLES/911239937/1118?Title=Anti-Islam-shirts-draw-suit-
Do you guys think this has political/religious/opinionated undertones? Are freedom of speech rights being oppressed? Is religious discrimination at foot? Could the offensive T-shirts be a from of hate crime? I thought it was an interesting, local article that might interest the class.
Posts
I honestly believe people who try to wear racially or religiously offensive material on their person while attending a public school and expecting to get away with it by claiming it's freedom of speech are severely under-thinking the situation and implications of the situation. Public schools are not a free ground, they are a neutral ground. It is against policy to promote or tolerate offensive material such as drug paraphernalia, racism, sexism, or anti-Muslim t-shirts. Because fear impedes learning. Public schools are meant to provide a neutral and safe learning environment for the children of the tax-payers they are funded by. Whether these children are Muslim or Christian makes no difference. No offensive material should be allowed to be flagrantly displayed in public schools.
ReplyDelete