[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [SRRTAC-L:13916] Fw: Military, Principal Censor Student's Poetry (fwd)

[Alfred Kagan]

>Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 15:59:21 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Frederick W Stoss <fstoss at buffalo.edu>
>X-Sender: fstoss at hercules.acsu.buffalo.edu
>To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l at ala.org>
>Subject: [SRRTAC-L:13916] Fw: Military, 
>Principal Censor Student's Poetry (fwd)
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>
>I would suggest circulating this widely as an indication of how bad things
>are getting in this country.
>
>Fred Stoss
>University at Buffalo--SUNY
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 11:25:42 -0400
>From: Jean Dickson <dickson at buffalo.edu>
>
>This is so horrible I can hardly believe it's true...  will check to find
>out.    --jean
>---------- Forwarded Message ----------
>Date: Thursday, May 20, 2004 8:25 AM -0400
>>  ----- Original Message -----
>>  From: <CERJ at igc.org>
>>
>>>  "(Despite the fact that) no obscenity (was) found in any of the poetry,
>>>  the girl's mother ... was ordered by the principal to
>>  destroy the child's poetry.  Bill Nevins, the teacher, was suspended for
>>  not censoring the poetry of his students.  He was later fired by the
>>  principal.  Nevins applied for a teaching post in another school and was
>>  offered the job, but he can't go to work until Rio Rancho's principal
>>  sends the new school Nevins' credentials.  The principal has refused to
>>  do so ..."
>>>
>>>  http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/0
>>>  3OpOPN62051504.htm
>>>
>>>  Hard Lessons From Poetry Class:
>>>  Speech is Free Unless It's Critical
>>>  by William Hill
>>>  © 2004 News-Journal Corporation
>>>
>>>  Bill Nevins, a New Mexico high school teacher and personal friend, was
>>>  fired last year and classes in poetry and the poetry club
>>  at Rio Rancho High School were permanently terminated.  It had nothing to
>>  do with obscenity, but it had everything to do with extremist politics.
>>>
>>>  The "Slam Team" was a group of teenage poets who asked Nevins to serve
>>>  as faculty adviser to their club.  The teens, mostly shy
>>  youngsters, were taught to read their poetry aloud and before audiences.
>>  Rio Rancho High School gave the Slam Team access to the school's
>>  closed-circuit television once a week and the poets thrived.
>>>
>>>  In March 2003, a teenage girl named Courtney presented one of her poems
>>>  before an audience at Barnes & Noble bookstore in
>>  Albuquerque, then read the poem live on the school's closed-circuit
>>  television channel.
>>>
>>>  A school military liaison and the high school principal accused the girl
>>>  of being "un-American" because she criticized the war in
>>  Iraq and the Bush administration's failure to give substance to its "No
>>  child left behind" education policy.
>>>
>>>  The girl's mother, also a teacher, was ordered by the principal to
>>>  destroy the child's poetry.  The mother refused and may lose
>>  her job.
>>>
>>>  Bill Nevins was suspended for not censoring the poetry of his students.
>>>  Remember, there is no obscenity to be found in any of the
>>  poetry.  He was later fired by the principal.
>>>
>>>  After firing Nevins and terminating the teaching and reading of poetry
>>>  in the school, the principal and the military liaison read
>>  a poem of their own as they raised the flag outside the school.  When the
>>  principal had the flag at full staff, he applauded the action he'd taken
>>  in concert with the military liaison.
>>>
>>>  Then to all students and faculty who did not share his political
>>>  opinions, the principal shouted: "Shut your faces."  What a
>>  wonderful lesson he gave those 3,000 students at the largest public high
>>  school in New Mexico.  In his mind, only certain opinions are to be
>>  allowed.
>>>
>>>  But more was to come.  Posters done by art students were ordered torn
>>>  down, even though none was termed obscene.  Some were
>>  satirical, implicating a national policy that had led us into war.  Art
>  > teachers who refused to rip down the posters on display in their
>>  classrooms were not given contracts to return to the school in this
>>  current school year.
>>>
>>>  The message is plain.  Critical thinking, questioning of public policies
>>>  and freedom of speech are not to be allowed to anyone who
>>  does not share the thinking of the school principal.
>>>
>>>  The teachers union has been joined in a legal action against the school
>>>  by the National Writers Union, headquartered in New York
>>  City.  NWU's at-large representative Samantha Clark lives and works in
>>  Albuquerque.
>>>
>>>  The American Civil Liberties Union has become the legal arm of the
>>>  lawsuit pending in federal court.
>>>
>>>  Meanwhile, Nevins applied for a teaching post in another school and was
>>>  offered the job, but he can't go to work until Rio
>>  Rancho's principal sends the new school Nevins' credentials.  The
>>  principal has refused to do so, and that adds yet another issue to the
>>  lawsuit, which is awaiting a trial date.
>>>
>>>  While students are denied poetry readings, poetry clubs and classes in
>>>  poetry, Nevins works elsewhere and writes his own poetry.
>>>
>>>  Writers and editors who have spent years translating essays, films,
>>>  poems, scientific articles and books by Iranian, North Korean
>>  and Sudanese authors have been warned not to do so by the U.S. Treasury
>>  Department under penalty of fine and imprisonment. Publishers and film
>>  producers are not allowed to edit works authored by writers in those
>>  nations.  The Bush administration contends doing so has the effect of
>>  trading with the enemy, despite a 1988 law that exempts published
>>  materials from sanction under trade rules.
>>>
>>>  Robert Bovenschulte, president of the American Chemical Society, is
>>>  challenging the rule interpretation by violating it to edit
>>  into English several scientific papers from Iran.
>>>
>>>  Are book burnings next?
>>>
>>>  ==================================
>>>  CERJ at igc.org            wilmerding at earthlink.net
>>>  -------------------------------------------
>>>  John Wilmerding, Convener and List Manager
>>>  Coalition for Equity-Restorative Justice (CERJ)
>>>  217 High Street, Brattleboro, VT, USA
>>>  ZIP: 05301-6073         Phone: 1-802-254-2826
>>>  CERJ was founded in New York in May, 1997.
>>>  -------------------------------------------
>>>  "Work together to reinvent justice using methods
>>>  that are fair; that conserve, restore, and even
>>>  create harmony, equity and good will in society."
>>>  -------------------------------------------
>>>  To join (or leave) the CERJ email list, kindly send
>>>  me an email message at wilmerding at earthlink.net
>>>  or at cerj at igc.org.  I'll need your first & last name,
>>>  your email address, and your state, province or
>>>  country of residence.  Thank you!  -- John W.
>>>  ==================================
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>---------- End Forwarded Message ----------


-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu