University Business - June 2008 - (Page 14)

EDITOR’S NOTE Are Loyalty Oaths Really Necessary? W ENDY GONAVER LOST HER TEACHING job at California State University, Fullerton in May because she refused to sign a state-mandated loyalty oath for all state employees. Gonaver, a practicing Quaker and pacifist, believes the oath is an infringement on her religious beliefs and her rights to free speech. Gonaver offered to sign the oath as long as she could attach a state- lose your job. But by signing the oath to keep your job, you ment expressing her pacifism. The school turned her down. must suppress your personal beliefs. Or at least pretend that CSU officials say they are simply following the law, and you do. I’m willing to bet that there are more than a few CalGonaver, as a state employee, is required to sign the oath. But ifornia state employees that had their fingers crossed when unlike some other institutions, CSU doesn’t permit employees they took the oath. And if so, then, technically at least, they to submit personal statements with the oath. “The position of are violating the oath. Will the state weed out these nonconthe university is that her entire added formists in a McCarthy-style witch material was against the law,” says CSU hunt? Of course not. And no one On the surface, the oath spokesperson Clara Potes-Fellow. college has all the signiﬁcance of, really expects that abe calledhistory If the case sounds familiar, that’s teacher might ever on to because another teacher, Marianne say, wearing a ﬂag pin on take up arms against her religion to Kearney-Brown, was fired from CSU defend the constitution. But the situyour lapel. East Bay in February for a similar reaation raises the question of whether son. Kearney-Brown, also a Quaker, a loyalty oath, which legal experts inserted “nonviolently” in front of the word “defend” when commenting on Kearney-Brown’s case agree is largely symshe signed her oath. bolic, carries any real weight. On the surface, the oath has In Kearney-Brown’s case, however, the parties reached a all the significance of, say, wearing a flag pin on your lapel. It compromise. After her case gained national media attention, has little bearing on a person’s qualifications for a job. Kearney-Brown was quietly reinstated. During a grievance California is not alone in this. Other state university syshearing, she signed a new document offered by the school tems require their employees to sign loyalty oaths, and peothat read: “Signing the oath does not carry with it any ob- ple have lost their jobs for not signing. I’m curious to hear ligation or requirement that public employees bear arms or your opinions. If you had to take a loyalty oath, did you have otherwise engage in violence.” So far, such a compromise has reservations about doing so? And if you support the oath, as not been offered to Gonaver. many people do, I want to hear about that, too. To be fair, the schools are not to blame here. The oath has been part of California’s state constitution since the 1950s. CATCH THE BUZZ Although it has been challenged, the courts have upheld University Business is pleased to introduce “UB Buzz,” a new its legality. And many people, particularly in the post-9/11 blog dedicated to higher education news updates throughout world, support the ideas behind it. the day, resources, and commentary. Visit blogs.university The law says that all California state employees must sign business.com and see what the buzz is about. it or (presumably) lose their jobs. Yet the oath says that the signer “take(s) this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.” So there’s something of a “Catch-22” situation here: Don’t sign the oath and you could Write to Tim Goral at tgoral@universitybusiness.com. 14 | June 2008 universitybusiness.com http://blogs.universitybusiness.com http://blogs.universitybusiness.com http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - June 2008

University Business - June 2008
Contents
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Editor's Note
Stats Watch
People Watch
Endowment Management
Viewpoint
On the Hill
Future Shock
2008 Annual Directory of Higher Education Consultants
Independent Outlook
Sense of Place
Cover Story - History in the Making
Getting Serious About Service
Sustainability and Energy Management
Internet Technology
What's New
Calendar of Events
End Note

University Business - June 2008