Back in the saddle.Update here. Looks like the good guys won!!!! ********************************************************************* Sorry about the hiatus everyone. What's taking the month of October off between friends anyway? For some reason, the folks at Foxnews (iFeminists) have picked up on this story regarding an Alliance Defense Fund lawsuit. Not sure why, but I'm glad they did. This is an amazing story - spiked by the MSM as usual. In 2002, Brooker entered MSU for a bachelor of social work degree. In Spring 2005, she enrolled in "Social Welfare Policy and Services I" taught by Frank G. Kauffman, a non-tenured assistant professor. The course was a requirement; that is, Brooker could not graduate without passing it. When Kauffman reportedly "engaged in leftist diatribes denigrating President Bush," Brooker and several other students objected. She received an atypically bad grade which, after a year of effort, was successfully appealed.
Unfortunately, this is standard business in colleges today. This isn't the story, just a little background. Unfortunately, Kauffman taught another required course that Brooker attended in Fall 2005. Students were required to engage in a social work advocacy project of their choice; Brooker chose "homelessness," but Kauffman ordered the entire class to focus on advocating for the rights of gays to adopt and serve as foster parents, which he strongly favors.
Apparently, gays did not have this 'right' in Missouri. ...the students were to compose and individually sign a letter on MSU letterhead in support of gay adoption which was addressed to the Missouri State legislature. The signature is key. Drafting a statement with which you disagree can be a valuable intellectual exercise; signing an addressed letter is an endorsement.
Make no mistake, this was no intellectual exercise. However, we are still just warming up here. The brave Christian student declined to sign the letter and went to other faculty. They pressured the prof., and he changed the assignment. Should be over now, right. No. After Brooker completed the course, she learned that Kauffman had filed a Level 3 Grievance against her. A Level 3 is the most serious charge that can be directed at a student's academic performance, and such a mark on her record significantly impairs Brooker's potential for employment or enrollment elsewhere.
You see, for the liberal folks at our institutions of higher learning, conservatives are not tollerated. This guy, Kauffman, was not going to lose - especially to be beaten by someone using the system whose power is normally to stand behind liberals. Brooker faced a two-and-a-half hour ethics review conducted by faculty, including Kauffman. Brooker was permitted neither legal representation nor her parents' presence. A written transcript of the meeting was not allowed.the committee allegedly claimed "that Ms. Brooker's Christian beliefs conflicted with the National Association of Social Worker Code of Ethics (NASWCE)." It demanded she write a paper on how to "lessen the gap" between her personal beliefs and professional obligations. ... as a condition of continuing her degree, Brooker was required to sign a contract pledging to conform to the NASWCE. However Allison Hadelhaft of NASW's national office denies that the group's ethics code requires a social worker to hold a specific view on homosexuality or to compromise their religious beliefs.
Like the truth matters to these people. Brooker received a one-day deadline to sign. She complied under protest.
If all else fails, lie, threaten, intimidate, and abuse power. That usually works. If successful, the lawsuit may reverberate through academia. The tax-funded policies at MSU are similar to those in other universities where parallel dramas play out.
That's the problem. The behavior of Kauffman and MSU are not atypical. This is the norm, not the exception. David French, a senior legal counsel with ADF, said the Brooker case illustrates the brazenness with which universities now violate a student's freedom of conscience. "A person was forced to publicly state a position on a hot-button cultural issue to her own government that she disagrees with. You can’t get a more fundamental violation of the First Amendment than that…Brooker objected, and then she was subject to investigation and punishment," French said.
For these people, conservatives and Christians do not have first amendment rights. I hope the lawsuit serves as a reminder to them that we still do, at least for now. | 
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