LeMoyne College Loses In Court
[January 24th] - Sometimes, I just don't understand what people are thinking.
Last year, a student in the College of Education at LeMoyne College, a Jesuit school in New York state, was forced from school not by anything he did, but rather because of what he thought. As part of an teacher-education class, the student was asked to write an essay on what he perceived to be the "perfect" class. He received an "A-" on the paper.
But something he wrote was noticed by an administrator within the college. The student believed in corporal punishment, and thought that it had a place in the "ideal" classroom of the 21st century. This "riled up" the college's thought police.
When he tried to enroll the next semester, he was blocked from doing so. When he inquired, he found out that the administrator dis-enrolled him, telling him that his values "ran counter" to that of the college, and was no longer welcome there.
Finally, the New York Supreme Court voided the actions of the Lemoyne College of Education and ordered that the student be allowed to continue his studies at the school. The school didn't just lose, they got "whacked" by the judge afterwards. Said the judge, "President Beirne should be ashamed that his administration ignored its own rules, spent student's tuition money fighting litigation it invited, and cost one of its students a year of education simply because it did not like what he said in a theoretical paper. The school has no right to censor its students simply because of a differing of opinions."
Many colleges of education are now asking students to fill out a form that indicates their personal beliefs regarding the role of teachers in education today. If they are not in harmony with the school's monolithic mantra, they are refused entry to the college. Of course, it's the students with conservative and religious values that are refused entry.
At least this one time, reason triumphed over stupidity.
