Republican America: fear keeps you quiet
Christian college expels gay student, others afraid to discuss:
Johnson, a sophomore majoring in theater arts, was expelled from the university Thursday because he declared online that he is gay. In a statement released last week, the university's president, Jim Taylor said students are held to a "higher standard" and that "students know the rules before they come to this institution."(via drudge)
[...]
Renee Kuder, a University of the Cumberlands senior and a friend of Johnson, says many students worry they'll be punished if they discuss the case online or in the media. Some students declined to comment for this story, or did not return messages.
posted by $!# at 4/11/2006 10:33:00 AM
5 Comments:
You'll find the post found here quite thought provoking.
Not really: I don't find the question of whether the school had the right to expel the student particularly interesting. And what Kentucky's legislature wants to do with its money is its own business.
Creating a climate of fear around the discussion of sexual orientation, however, is the issue that should make people think.
No climate of fear, one merely has to watch TV for a few minutes to see that.
He knew the school's views on Homosexuality when he enrolled there. Too bad for him.
I don't entirely see what TV has to do with this, but I find the research which correlates people's fears for their safety with their amount of television viewing pretty interesting.
I'll post a bit more about the school's policy's later, but I don't disagree with any of your points about the school's rights, the state's rights, etc.
More interesting questions (and ones I think you dodge in the post you flogged here): are these policies a good idea? Are they compassionate?
$!# - that's a good question, and on the face of it, no, they aren't.
There a million ways that this could have been handled, just as there are various ways this could have occurred (did they speak with him in person, counsel him, etc?).
I will definitely give you this point - if it occurred 100% as reported (he said he was gay, they immediately expelled him), then no, I don't really disagree that they were way too heavy handed, more than a little inconsistent, etc.
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