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ACLU-CT Continues CFAR Legacy
Hosting First Amendment Conference for High School Students
First Amendment in Action: A Student’s Right to Peaceably Assemble
“The Conference was fantastic. My students had a great time…As did I. …You did a terrific job.”
— Wilton High School drama coach
What happened when a student in a Michigan public school tried to start an Atheist Club? School officials, although they had approved a Bible Club, put obstacles in Micah White’s efforts.
White will speak at the 2008 CFAR High School First Amendment Conference, to be run this year for the first time by the ACLU of Connecticut. It will be held at St. Joseph’s College in West Hartford on October 30. The conference will focus on the rights of students inside and outside of schools, and give them an opportunity to explore the boundaries of their constitutional rights. Other speakers will include Adrienne Fulco — Director Public Policy & Law Program at Trinity College, and Catherine Crump — National ACLU Staff Attorney.
Conference registration is due October 20th. If you are interested in attending or bringing a group of students to the conference, send an e-mail to pdoyle@acluct.org. Be sure to include your name, contact information, the name of your school, and the number of slots you are requesting in the e-mail.
During the conference, White will recount when his family moved to Grand Blanc, MI. Near the end of his sophomore year another student wrote an op-ed in the school newspaper espousing teaching of creationism; he responded with a critique, and in the beginning of his junior year he decided to start an Atheist Club, sure he had the legal right to do so because the school had already allowed a Bible Club.
Among the obstacles he encountered were being told that he couldn’t recruit members, use the PA system or put up signs, as the Bible Club was allowed to do. He had found online a guide for students interested in forming Bible clubs, which referenced a section in the federal Equal Access Act: "It shall be deemed unlawful for any public secondary school which receives Federal financial assistance and which has a limited open forum to deny equal access or a fair opportunity to, or discriminate against, any students who wish to conduct a meeting within that limited open forum on the basis of the religious, political, philosophical, or other content of the speech at such meetings."
But when he cited that passage to the vice-principal who was blocking his organizing efforts, he was initially told not to “worry about the law” but instead to worry about what Grand Blanc High School allows.
White will join Adrienne Fulco and Catherine Crump on the October program designed to stimulate discussion of student rights; students attending will have an opportunity to pursue those topics in smaller breakout groups.
Registration is due October 20th. You can print out an invitation and registration form by clicking on the link below.
Print out invitation and registration form to fax to ACLU-CT.
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