David --
I am not a lawyer, but I believe most of the cases you mention are in fact
based on the 14th Amendment prohibition of discrimination, and other
legislation that proceeds from that, rather than on the 1st Amendment,
which really does only apply to governments.
With regards to school newspapers, the most recent case I am familiar with
came about 5 years ago, when students sued their school over perceived
censorship, and the Supreme Court ruled that the school was in effect the
publisher, and within their rights to set whatever limits they wished.
As for patriotic displays, there was a case just a couple years ago in
which a professional basketball player (sorry, I forget his name) decided,
for whatever reason, that he did not wish to stand during the national
anthem before each game. The league fined him, saying it was a rule. Some
fans complained that the player's First Amendment rights were being
violated. Lawyers wrote newspaper articles explaining that, as a private
employer, the league had the right to require this display of patriotism as
a condition of employment. (I believe the player dropped his lawsuit when
his lawyers convinced him he didn't have a case.) Again, IANAL, but it
would seem that the inverse would also be true: an employer could require a
*ban* on displays of patriotism as a condition of employment.
Let me just add that I believe the museums administrator who banned flags
made a capricious, insensitive, and all-around bad decision.
As for the original case, here's something sent to me by my S.O., a
librarian, found on a library list serve:
"The story below can be found at
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_408708.html
: From a UK press service:
:
: Subject: Librarian suspended for banning patriotic stickers
:
: A librarian has been suspended for banning patriotic stickers at a Florida
: university in the wake of terrorist attacks in the US.
:
: Library services director Kathy Hoeth has been suspended from Florida Gulf
: Coast University for 30 days without pay.
:
: Her decision to outlaw the stickers prompted 500 emails and will cost her
the
: equivalent of £4,215 in lost pay.
:
: She said she asked employees at the library's public desks to remove the
red,
: white and blue stickers saying Proud to be American because she did not
want to
: offend foreign students. She said librarians should be neutral and not
express
: opinions.
:
: Provost Brad Bartel, Ms Hoeth's supervisor, wrote in a disciplinary
letter: "As
: unintentional as it may have been on your part to suppress freedom of
speech
: and that of academic freedom, it was a decision which did exactly that.
Being
: politically correct, in this case, was not a just reason for having them
remove
: the stickers."
:
: New-Press.com reports Ms Hoeth, who was not available for comment, will
return
: to work on October 26. She has apologised for her actions and admitted
poor
: judgement.
:
: University president William Merwin added: "This action, were it not for
the
: terrorists bombings and outpouring of patriotic zeal, probably would not
have
: been viewed in quite the same way. But it's a First Amendment rights
issue.
: This was a mistake."
:
The librarians on the listserve, extremely sensitive to any perceived
censorship or interference (understandable, if you follow library issues),
came to the defense of this administrator.
Just another view,
-- Eugene Dillenburg
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
