By ROBERT DIGITALE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
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Posted on 12/22/2003 1:07:43 PM PST by Syncro
December 22, 2003
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The winter break comes none too soon for Rohnert Park's Rancho Cotate High, where the school's new Conservative Club has gone from debating controversial issues to becoming one.
During the last week of school the club president said he twice received threats of physical violence from some students -- prompting the principal to suggest without success that the 17-year-old junior stay home for the rest of the week.
Forty of the school's faculty, meanwhile, signed a letter objecting to the actions of the club, including a flier the club produced urging students to "take a stand against the liberal traitors who call themselves teachers."
Club members, who number about 50 and meet once a week, counter that the educators are belittling them before other students and said two teachers failed to take action when their club leader was threatened -- an allegation the school principal rejected.
The club's faculty adviser, necessary for any campus club to continue, recently stepped down from that position after the club president distributed a newsletter without her authorization. That has placed the club's status in limbo.
All of which drew a simple response from students looking from the outside in on the controversy surrounding their school:
"We're tired of it," student body President Vanessa Nordin said.
The club, which may be unique among high schools on the North Coast, began this fall at the 2,000-student school after a group of students called for a forum to offer a balance to what they said were teacher opinions voiced from a liberal perspective.
At first Nordin (and others) said she admired the courage of students who wanted a club to express different views on campus. But she and five other student leaders said Friday the club's president, Tim Buehler, has repeatedly provoked controversy.
Buehler acknowledged he is provocative but denied his club promotes hate, as some students and teachers have suggested.
He said many of the school's teachers "simply don't want us here" and he likened his strategy in dealing with opponents to that of talk radio host Michael Savage, who has built a career on attacking liberals with vitriolic speech.
"We make it fun and we make it interesting and people want to come back," Buehler said.
With outside speakers from the National Rifle Association and the Eagle Forum, the club quickly drew attention, both from supporters and from opponents. But exactly what everyone is learning from the controversy is itself a matter of debate.
Teachers insist the club has accused them without any evidence of instruction that is biased against conservative views. And they objected to the club flier that urged students to report to a "conservative hot line" any "un-American comments" by teachers.
"To me that harkens back to McCarthyism," said business and computer teacher Trudy Nye.
Science teacher Mark Alton agreed and asked, "Who gets to decide if someone is a traitor or not?"
The club's members are equally insistent that teachers, whether consciously or not, are presenting a liberal world view and are using their role as instructors to criticize President Bush and other conservative leaders. They also said that during class time some teachers have belittled Buehler or other club members.
"My history teacher bashes on Tim," said club member Clay Curreri, a junior.
Gabby McGrath, a senior and a student government leader, said she has heard comments from a teacher that "weren't appropriate" about the club's members. But she and other student leaders said the club's participants are naive if they think they can say outrageous things and not provoke a response from teachers and students.
Senior class Vice President Jason Wang said students considered it denigrating when Buehler's newsletter included an article saying that "liberals welcome every Muhammad, Jamul and Jose who wishes to leave his third-world state and come to America -- mostly illegally -- to rip off our health care system, balkanize our language and destroy our political system."
This week Buehler said he was twice threatened by groups of students angry about the article, which dealt with illegal immigration. He said on each occasion he went to teachers for help but received none.
Last week, some of the 50 members of the club met with Principal Mitchell Carter to discuss concerns about the two incidents and the teacher responses. Carter later said he had investigated and found no evidence of inappropriate action by teachers.
"We take our students' well-being very seriously," Carter said. He said he earlier had suggested that Buehler stay home the remainder of the week in order to "let things settle down." Buehler declined.
The same day a San Bruno group, the European/American Issues Forum, said it had filed a formal complaint on Buehler's behalf with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, alleging the school was failing "to eliminate a hostile environment" against the club president.
For now the school is dark, beginning a two-week holiday break. But no one thinks the controversy will go away.
Under school rules, the club can't resume meetings until it finds another adviser. But Buehler insists the club will survive, even if it does so off campus.
Amanda Clarke, the club's vice president, acknowledged that "Tim's slogans can be a little outrageous." But she said the club has a worthwhile goal and she hopes eventually students with different views will be able to discuss their opinions in a respectful manner.
"I think people just need to calm down," Clarke said.
THE CLUB
The Conservative Club has about 50 members at the 2,000-student school.
It began this fall after some students called for a forum to balance what they perceived as the teachers' liberal bias.
You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or rdigitale@pressdemocrat.com.
Forty of the school's faculty, meanwhile, signed a letter objecting to the actions of the club, including a flier the club produced urging students to "take a stand against the liberal traitors who call themselves teachers."
Teachers insist the club has accused them without any evidence of instruction that is biased against conservative views. (uh huh...lol) And they objected to the club flier that urged students to report to a "conservative hot line" any "un-American comments" by teachers.
Bold and red are my doing
How many other High Schools do?
This is a very liberal area and pretty much a bedroom community.
I imagine there are some "closet conservatives" that need to come out.
50 out of 2000=2.5%
Maybe they can apply for funds for being a minority group...
:>)
But that's a good thing Trudy. Communism doesn't mix with what this country is about. It's gotta be one or the other; you can't have some kind of funky blend of Marxist Republicanism. So we're going to get rid of communism. One old biddy at a time.
Well, he's the teacher. Is he suggesting that there are no standards by which one could possibly be deemed a traitor? Perhaps he could shell out for a dictionary to learn...ya know...like set an example for the students.
Of course if the student who was belittled by a teacher was black, hispanic, Indian, or gay the administration would have held an investigation, and the teachers would have already been suspended without pay.
Lord help you if a butter knife ends up in the back seat of your car.
Draw a picture of Army combat and face the scorn of your peers.
Apparently threatening a conservative student with physical harm isn't on this school's zero tolerance list.
Refinement is needed.
Yes, for sure.
They are young and have a lot to learn, but they are doing something and I applaude them for that. It is a start.
I will be meeting with them in the near future.
I will see that this group gets in contact with them. They can share ideas.
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