Student writes column advocating tolerance. Teacher suspended!
The column in the student newspaper seemed
innocent enough: advocating tolerance for people “different than
you.”
How they used to practice “tolerance” in Woodburn
The column in the student newspaper seemed innocent enough: advocating tolerance for people “different than you.”
But since sophomore Megan Chase’s words appeared January 19 in The Tomahawk, the newspaper at Woodlan Junior-Senior High School, her newspaper adviser has been suspended and is fighting for her job, and charges of censorship and First Amendment violations are clouding this conservative northeastern Indiana community.
At issue is whether Chase’s opinion column advocating tolerance of homosexuals was suitable for a student newspaper distributed to students in grades 7 through 12 and whether newspaper adviser Amy Sorrell followed protocol in allowing the column to be printed.
Media advocates say the debate has deeper ramifications.
Sorrell, the daughter of a newspaper editor, said she thought she knew what was acceptable in the school district where she has taught English for four years.
“I’d still make that same judgment,” she said.
The broader question is that censorship isn’t seated just in the heart of hooded bigots. Fears and foolishness live throughout Middle America. Something as basic as getting along with other human beings is controversial to the chronically ignorant.
Posted: Mon - April 23, 2007 at 07:27 AM