(no subject)

[Douglas Laycock]

  I don't disagree with this.  But if the invitation is to every
student to bring a parent or grandparent to talk about his job, it
looks a lot more like a forum and a lot less like the teacher
inviting selected guest speakers.

  Quoting "Brownstein, Alan" <aebrownstein at ucdavis.edu>:

> As Doug suggests, it is extremely unlikely that allowing the parent
or
> grandparent minister to speak would violate the Establishment
Clause.
> But if we are talking about a classroom program, as a free speech
> matter, I think there is a powerful presumption that teachers do
not
> create a forum by inviting guest speakers into the classroom to
speak to
> students. The teacher's decision about who may speak to the class
would
> either be unreviewable under Arkansas Public Television v. Forbes
or
> upheld, as long as it served a legitimate pedagogical purpose,
under
> Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. It may be that the very broad invitation to
> guests in this case is sufficient to distinguish this situation
from the
> more common guest speaker or guest panel situation. But from a
> conventional free speech perspective, school and teacher discretion
in
> conducting classroom programs can not easily be challenged - even
when
> their decisions are viewpoint discriminatory.
>
>
>
> Alan Brownstein
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu
> [mailto:religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Douglas
Laycock
> Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 8:18 AM
> To: religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu
> Subject: Re: (no subject)
>
>
>
> I don't know the Peck case.  But there are cases holding that
religious
> viewpoints cannot be excluded from genuine free speech
opportunities.
> Widmar v. Vincent (1981); Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches Union
Free
> School District (1993); Rosenberger v. Rector of Univ. of Virginia
> (1995); Pinette v. Capital Square Board (1995); Good News Club v.
> Milford Central School District (2001).
>
> None of those involve a captive audience, and your claim is
stronger if
> Career Day is a sort of fair with parents and grandparents from
> different careers spread around the gym; the school has more of an
> argument if each parent or grandparent makes a presentation to the
> class.  But I would think that it is not a very strong argument
unless
> religion comes to dominate the forum.
>
> Quoting Richard James <Rjames at udel.edu>:
>
>> In response to the March 26 posting below (although it?s not
really a
>> response, because I was the ?correspondent?) it might also be the
>> case that Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah 508
>> U.S. 520, 530 (1993) has more bearing on the issue, as the
decision
>> holds that: "The first amendment forbids an official purpose to
>> disapprove of...religion in general." My goal is to try to provide
a
>> constructive response to the school that will enable them to stay
out
>> of hot water in the future by mitigating this kind of knee-jerk
>> response to the issue at hand.
>>
>>> Can a school restrict participation in school->sponsored "career
>>> day"type events due to concerns >about "chuch/state separation"?
Our
>>> daughter had intended >to invite her grandmother, a minister, to
a
>>> firstgrade >career day to which the school had issued a broad
>>> >invitation. Today I was told by the principal that the
> attendance
>>> of a minister would be a violation of >separation. I think that
>>> schools are understandable hyper->cautious about this issue, but
do
>>> you think that Peck v. >Baldwinsville has any bearing on this? It
>>> might be thought >that participation by student's invitees is an
>>> aspect of >free speech and that therefore the school is engaged
> in
>>> 'viewpoint discrimination' of the
>>> kind identified in Peck.
>>
>>
>> Richard James
>>
>
>
> Douglas Laycock
> Yale Kamisar Collegiate Professor of Law
> University of Michigan Law School
> 625 S. State St.
> Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1215
>   734-647-9713
>
>

Douglas Laycock
Yale Kamisar Collegiate Professor of Law
University of Michigan Law School
625 S. State St.
Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1215
  734-647-9713
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