Quaker teacher fired for signing statement, inserting word 'nonviolently'

[babylonsister]

Quaker teacher fired for signing statement
Submitted by danielifearn on Fri, 2008-02-29 17:04.

Quaker teacher fired for changing loyalty oath
Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, February 29, 2008


California State University East Bay has fired a math teacher after six weeks on the job because she inserted the word "nonviolently" in her state-required Oath of Allegiance form.

Marianne Kearney-Brown, a Quaker and graduate student who began teaching remedial math to undergrads Jan. 7, lost her $700-a-month part-time job after refusing to sign an 87-word Oath of Allegiance to the Constitution that the state requires of elected officials and public employees.

"I don't think it was fair at all," said Kearney-Brown. "All they care about is my name on an unaltered loyalty oath. They don't care if I meant it, and it didn't seem connected to the spirit of the oath. Nothing else mattered. My teaching didn't matter. Nothing."

A veteran public school math teacher who specializes in helping struggling students, Kearney-Brown, 50, had signed the oath before - but had modified it each time.

She signed the oath 15 years ago, when she taught eighth-grade math in Sonoma. And she signed it again when she began a 12-year stint in Vallejo high schools.

Each time, when asked to "swear (or affirm)" that she would "support and defend" the U.S. and state Constitutions "against all enemies, foreign and domestic," Kearney-Brown inserted revisions: She wrote "nonviolently" in front of the word "support," crossed out "swear," and circled "affirm." All were to conform with her Quaker beliefs, she said.

more...

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/31431

[Warpy]

1. The ACLU will take this one

It's a clear violation of her right to her own religious conscience.

[RC]

3. The oath itself is a clear violation of our Constitutional rights.

Just what does it have to do with teaching? It reads like a right wing locality pledge.

[alarimer]

2. Loyalty oaths should be unconstitutional

I am not going to defend this country from any enemies. Defend my family and friends, sure, but otherwise I am not going to lift a finger.

[deadmessengers]

4. Then why are you here?

Not here in the US, but here on this board? If you're not willing to defend this country, then why are you involved in it's political system?

[jmowreader]

5. You know there are people against Ms. Brown...

They're against her religious stand.

These are the SAME people who are FOR pharmacists being able to rip up prescriptions for Plan B, BC pills and other contraceptive products because said items violate the pharmacists' religious sensibilities.