Posted on 06/28/2005 7:23:53 AM PDT by zlala
Term paper about 'God' earns student failing grade 'He told me you might as well write about the Easter Bunny. He wanted to censor the word God.'
VICTORVILLE — For using the "G" word 41 times in a term paper, Bethany Hauf was given an "F" by her Victor Valley Community College instructor.
Hauf's teacher approved her term paper topic — Religion and its Place within the Government — on one condition: Don't use the word God. Instead of complying with VVCC adjunct instructor Michael Shefchik's condition Hauf wrote a 10-page report for her English 101 class entitled "In God We Trust."
"He said it would offend others in class," Hauf, a 34-year-old mother of four, said. "I didn't realize God was taboo."
Hauf has received legal assistance from the American Center for Law and Justice. The ACLJ is a conservative Christian legal foundation founded by Dr. M.G. "Pat" Robertson, who is also the founder, chairman and face of the Christian Broadcasting Network.
"I don't loose my First Amendment rights when I walk into that college," Hauf said. She is demanding an apology from the teacher and that the paper be re-graded.
The college says the issue over Hauf's paper, written during the spring semester, has been satisfactorily resolved. "We settled this matter during the course of this class," said Judy Solis, chair of VVC's English department. "She was treated fairly and she knew what the options were."
Shefchik could not be reached for this report.
Hauf took her concerns about not being able to use "God" in her report to her teacher, then to the department chair. During a joint meeting between all three the options were laid out: Hand in the report with the "G" word or revise, edit or re-write the paper, Solis said.
"She continued to write her paper," Solis said. "She knew what the consequences were."
Hauf acknowledges she knew her teacher's condition for writing the paper, but argued it would be impossible to write about the affect of Christianity on the development of the United States without using the word God. "He told me you might as well write about the Easter Bunny," Hauf said. "He wanted to censor the word God."
Hauf first approached her teacher about writing her paper in an April 12 e-mail, according to a 12-page ACLJ paper sent to the college offering legal opinions in favor of Hauf.
Shefchik wrote her back an e-mail approving her topic choice, but at the same time cautioning her to be objective in her reporting. "I have one limiting factor," Shefchik wrote, according to the ACLJ. "No mention of big 'G' gods, i.e., one, true god argumentation."
The ACLJ said his actions are unconstitutional. "A student's constitutional free speech rights to express religious views are fully protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments," the ACLJ wrote.
In addition to an apology and a re-grading of Hauf's paper, the ACLJ demands Shefchik "receive some kind of training to sensitize him to the constitutional dimensions of his employment in a public educational institution, including his duty to respect constitutional freedoms of expression."
Hauf's husband supports his wife's position. "She has to pursue this. Not only has her civil rights been violated this is an English class she took, not a political science course," Fritz Hauf said. "She should be graded on the composition not the 'G' word."
Though getting an "F" on the research paper Hauf got a "C" for the class.
LeRoy Standish may be reached at 951-6277 or leroy_standish@link.freedom.com.
HA!!
Well I'd say given the clown grading at this hellhole of a school?
You'd be awarded an *A+*, for "Creativity".
I mean how couldn't you earn such a grade?
Failing you would be argued a clear sign of "discrimination" and/or "racism".
Wouldn't it? :o)
Someone has just *got* to ask the miscreant brainstem teaching her class the reason(s) why the word "God" -- or any other word not regarded "obscene" -- cannot be used in a paper written for an English class.
If he cannot give a satisfactory answer -- & "offending others" is NOT a reason since only said instructor need read that paper, eh? -- then "the" motive's quite clear for the civil rights suite to follow.
...he'd (surely) be skinned *alive*.
The INSTRUCTION itself was illegal.
Next instruction: Write a paper about the media but don't use the word "bias".
And besides, her instructor didn't assign the topic of religion; he agreed to let her write about religion if she met a specified condition. The condition was dumb, but it's not as though he told her to write about religion without using the word "God."
He attempted to censor her from the get-go. He failed and she got an F as punishment.
Respectfully have to disagree with your reading...
Story says,"...Hauf took her concerns about not being able to use "God" in her report to her teacher, then to the department chair. During a joint meeting between all three the options were laid out: Hand in the report with the "G" word or revise, edit or re-write the paper, Solis said.
"She continued to write her paper," Solis said. "She knew what the consequences were."
Looks like to me they're asking her to take the God out.
You're a disgrace. Why don't you find somewhere else to post. Enemies of the 1st and 14th Amendments are not suited to a Free Republic.
This teacher was in the right. The student sounds like a dope who couldn't follow directions.
According to the ACLJ, Pat Robertson's group, what he requested was not that the word "God" be omitted, but "No mention of big 'G' gods, i.e., one, true god argumentation." In other words, that the basis of the argument cannot be based on the presumption that there is one, true, God and that government's goal should be doing his bidding.
That appears to be a legitimate restriction, in an academic setting. If it is supposed to be a scholarly work, and the student turns in something that essentially was a proselytizing piece, then she deserved the grade she got.
If the student wanted to do a scholarly look at the role of Christianity in the foundation of America, it could be done without an argument based on the student's religious feelings. That is both a reasonable request and is not in anyway a violation of any First Amendment rights the student has. It sounds to me that the student wanted to do whatever she wanted, didn't want to follow the rules, and now is in whining because she has to accept the consequences of her actions.
The INSTRUCTION itself was illegal.
So you keep saying. What was the illegal instruction? Careful how you answer; remember that the instructor didn't assign the topic but agreed, under certain conditions, to accept a paper on that subject in fulfillment of an assignment already given.
Or the teacher just sucks and is an ahole
Or at least take it out or flunk...
It seems pretty clear that the assignment was to write a paper with a specific condition.
The assignment was rather odd, but to deliberately not do the paper as directed and later complain about a failing grade is IMO an example of convoluted reasoning.
>
> The professor's requirement is illegal.
>
It is not, the professer can set any terms he wants to. The requirement may be silly, or indefensible, but not illegal.
And she is claiming "I didn't realize God was taboo." -- when it is clear from the story that she fully understood her professors requirements before writing the paper.
I'm not saying she shouldn't stand up for her beliefs, but she should have done so before writing the paper.
Not so, this is how it reads in the article, Hauf's teacher approved her term paper topic — Religion and its Place within the Government. We can argue semantics all day. But you can not discuss the US Government w/out some discussion of God, w/out being intellectually dishonest. Whether it be talking about the founding fathers or the hot button issue of today...can God be talked about in public schools or buildings.
I wrote an essay in my Advanced Comp class and maybe used the word God once.
Since the topic was on religion in government, not God, I did not feel the need to use the word. I was talking about the influence of a belief system on the government, not a deity.
However, I won't question this girl's word choice unless I saw the paper first.
GOD, unfortunately, expects something of us, so liberals hate the true God.
BINGO!
Too bad the same can't be said for your spelling skills. (Or maybe it was the reporter's spelling skills.)
Can't anyone here speak this language anymore?
I mean, don't you get the feeling the whole purpose of this article is just to agitate people and start another round of griping about victimization?
> According to Department of Education guidelines, the First Amendment applies to public institutions, including community and state colleges.
A DOE "guideline" is a *law?*
Second point: does this mean that the 1st also applies to grade school, and thus kids have the freedom of speech and cannot be censored in class to shut up when teacher is speaking? Well, that would explain the collapse in classroom discipline, I suppose...
Drive but don't use the steering wheel.
Flip someone off, but don't use your middle finger.
Do as I ridiculously instruct, or get an F
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