[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help] 

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

My 7 day suspension on X was lifted today.

They Just Revealed EVERYTHING... [Project 2029]

Trump ACCUSED Of MASS EXECUTING Illegals By DUMPING Them In The Ocean

The Siege (1998)

Trump Admin To BAN Pride Rainbow Crosswalks, DoT Orders ALL Distractions REMOVED

Elon Musk Backing Thomas Massie Against Trump-AIPAC Challenger

Skateboarding Dog

Israel's Plans for Jordan

Daily Vitamin D Supplementation Slows Cellular Aging:

Hepatitis E Virus in Pork

Hospital Executives Arrested After Nurse Convicted of Killing Seven Newborns, Trying to Kill Eight More

The Explosion of Jewish Fatigue Syndrome

Tucker Carlson: RFK Jr's Mission to End Skyrocketing Autism, Declassifying Kennedy Files

Israel has killed 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7, 2023

100m Americans live in areas with cancer-causing 'forever chemicals' in their water

Scientists discover cancer-fighting bacteria that "soak up" forever chemicals in the body

Israel limits entry of baby formula in Gaza as infants die of hunger

17 Ways mRNA Shots May CAUSE CANCER, According to Over 100 STUDIES

Report: Pentagon Halts Some Munitions Shipments To Ukraine Over Concerns That US Stockpiles Are Too Low

Locals Fear Demolitions as Israeli Troops Set Up New Base in Syrias Quneitra

Russian forces discover cache of Ukrainian chemical drone munitions FSB

Clarissa Ward: Gaza is what is turning people overseas against the US

What Parents Wish Their Children Could Grow Up Without

WHY SO MANY FOREIGN BASES IN AFRICA?

Trump called Candace Owens about Brigitte Macron's P*NIS?

New Mexico Is The Most-Dependent State On The Federal Govt, New Jersey The Least

"This Is The Next Level": AI-Powered "Digital Workers" Deployed At Major Bank To Work Alongside Humans

Cash Jordan: ICE Raids Taco Trucks... Deports 'Entire Parking Lot' of Migrants

Jaguar Went Woke & The Results Were Catastrophic

Trump Threatens To DEPORT ELON MUSK Over Big Beautiful Bill Feud, Elon NEVER Wanted EV Mandates


Editorial
See other Editorial Articles

Title: A Tale of Two Colleges: The Right Way (and the Wrong Way) to Handle the Gender Debate
Source: [None]
URL Source: https://www.westernjournal.com/tale ... rong-way-handle-gender-debate/
Published: Apr 28, 2022
Author: Jordan Pratt
Post Date: 2022-04-29 22:06:30 by BTP Holdings
Keywords: None
Views: 83

A Tale of Two Colleges: The Right Way (and the Wrong Way) to Handle the Gender Debate

By Jordan Pratt

April 28, 2022 at 2:15pm

It’s a bedrock principle of our constitutional democracy that the government may not compel citizens to speak messages that violate their convictions.

This principle applies with full force in our public schools, colleges and universities. As the Supreme Court famously put it 79 years ago when rejecting the compulsory Pledge of Allegiance, public institutions may not “prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.”

Some public colleges and universities have forgotten this truth as they begin to require their professors to pledge allegiance to a new orthodoxy: gender identity theory. But fortunately, the courts stand ready to remind them of their obligation to comply with the Constitution.

Just this month, after losing a federal appeal, Shawnee State University in Ohio agreed to pay a $400,000 settlement to a philosophy professor it punished for declining to use gender identity-based pronouns. Due to his religious and philosophical convictions, the professor could not refer to a male student with female titles and pronouns, but he offered a compromise: He could refer to the student by the student’s preferred name instead. In effect, the professor sought to exercise a right to remain silent on the gender identity issue.

That solution wasn’t good enough for Shawnee State. The school wanted the professor to speak against his conscience and his convictions and to proclaim its orthodoxy on gender issues. It warned him that standing on his convictions would incur escalating discipline. The university relented only after a federal appellate court ruled that this government- compelled speech violated the First Amendment.

Shawnee State’s intolerance of diverse perspectives and religious faith doesn’t just strike at the heart of the First Amendment. It broadly conflicts with the purpose of higher education.

American society used to agree on the purpose of colleges and universities: preparing students for work and citizenry in a diverse world. To that end, they would challenge students to engage with new ideas and would teach them to think critically, helping them break free from any cocoons of comfort and grapple with the complexities of life in modern society.

How can we expect our institutions of higher learning to answer this high calling when they force their own professors to — as the Supreme Court put it — “confess by word” a government-mandated orthodoxy? And how can we expect them to model intellectual freedom, critical thinking, good citizenry and toleration of diverse perspectives when they trample their professors’ basic constitutional freedoms, all for the sake of insulating students from dissenting ideas?

Thankfully, not all public colleges have lost their way.

My non-profit religious liberty law firm, First Liberty Institute, represents a tenured professor at Palo Alto College in Texas who was told — through HR training and email correspondence with an HR official — that he must use gender identity-based pronouns that conflict with his religious convictions about sex and gender. The HR official confirmed that the professor could face discipline, and even termination, for failing to conform.

But after we sent a letter reminding the college of its obligation to comply with the First Amendment and state and federal laws protecting religious freedom, the college’s governing body — the Alamo Community College District — countermanded its HR official’s statements and confirmed that it has no policy compelling its professors to use gender identity-based pronouns.

Palo Alto College models the right way to handle the emerging and divisive issue of gender identity: Offer advice, but don’t compel professors to speak against their deeply held convictions.

Of course, nothing prohibits a public college from speaking its own message, or even taking sides in a debate. But government schools cross the constitutional line (and undercut their academic mission) when they force citizens to speak according to a government-imposed orthodoxy.

Let us hope that, in navigating gender identity and other divisive issues, our nation’s public institutions start acting more like Palo Alto and less like Shawnee State.


Poster Comment:

At the concerts we had a saying, "If in doubt, knock out."

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  



[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help]