As we all know, this past Novembers election saw Washington States voters duped into passing the so called “Death With Dignity” initiative, making us the second state to allow “doctor assisted suicide.”
The measure passed due to a massive campaign from out of state sources that see the death of others as “humane.” Or, as many refer to it, the “Culture of Death,” that group that sees suicide and abortion as peaceful and humane, but are virulently opposed to the execution of mass murderers...
Thread by Peet.
At the public high school where I teach, a school-sponsored student club, Sharing Our Spirit, staged a "Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity" during school hours. Students wore red armbands and did not speak. The club's faculty adviser sent an e-mail to the entire faculty, including this: "They will be standing on behalf of the one-third of their generation that have been innocent victims of abortion." Was the students' activity legitimate? The adviser's? -- Name Withheld, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
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If the school rightly permits students to form clubs irrespective of ideology, from protesting the Iraq war to promoting a pre-emptive attack on Mars, there is no reason to bar this one. If its members do not hamper the school's educational function -- and a daylong silent vigil need not -- their activities ought to be allowed. The school would have a beef if, for example, a club directed students to refuse to answer questions in math class.
The teacher, too, has an ethical right to free expression, but because she is in a position of authority, she must be sure all students, regardless of their views, are welcome in her class and treated fairly. Nothing in your account suggests that this wasn't the case. And it is noteworthy that she sent her (to me, nutty) e-mail message to her colleagues; she did not declaim it in class. As a legal matter, Arthur Eisenberg of the New York Civil Liberties Union cautions, "She may not turn the classroom into a soapbox for her views on matters unrelated to the curriculum."
Another lawyer I consulted noted that a public school, as a government institution, may not promote a religion. Although the club's message is expressed in secular terms, anti-abortion activism is so often bound up in religious sentiment that a religious message can be implicit. When the adviser of a school-sponsored club takes up religious advocacy, the school must intervene.
(Readers can direct their questions and comments by e-mail to ethicist@nytimes.com. This column originates in The New York Times Magazine.)