Re: Spectator coverage of a current issue

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Kate Hale (halecl@uwec.edu)
Thu, 12 May 2005 08:18:46 -0500



Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 08:18:46 -0500
Subject: FW: Spectator coverage of a current issue
From: Kate Hale <halecl@uwec.edu>
Message-ID: <BEA8C1E6.44D6%halecl@uwec.edu>

Colleagues,

This is disheartening‹the rally at Clairemont yesterday was well attended and the energy there was good. But this response, these additional comment s from Mr. Bennett, really troubles me.

We need to stay alert and to be prepared to act as necessary.

Kate Hale English
------ Forwarded Message From: "Phillips, William H." <philliwh@uwec.edu> Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 06:42:16 -0500 To: "ENGL.STAFF" <ENGL.STAFF@uwec.edu> Subject: Spectator coverage of a current issue

  The Spectator - Campus News Issue: 5/12/05

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Discussion, photo of student angers parents By Karline Koehler

Eau Claire community members are divided after a local high school teacher showed photographs of transgendered UW-Eau Claire senior Jessica Janiuk's face as part of a discussion about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people.

On April 14, Memorial High School English teacher Beth Franklin showed classes photos of Janiuk's face before and after (see photo) her sex change
. The lesson took place during the Day of Silence, an event "to recognize and protest the discrimination and harassment" against LGBT people.

During the discussion, one student walked out of the classroom. His father, Neal Bennett, filed a complaint against the school board, stating the situation constituted harassment.

"She's taking her own agenda and she is forcing it on the students," Bennet t said. "It doesn't matter what that agenda is - if it's a controversial issue, that's wrong."

Franklin is the adviser for GLASS, Memorial's LGBT student group. She declined to comment for this article.

"This whole incident is the very reason that the Day of Silence even exists," Janiuk said. "This is an attempt of a large community to silence minority groups. I won't stand by and let that happen."

That's why Janiuk organized a rally in support of Franklin Wednesday at the corner of Keith Street and Clairemont Avenue.

"Her lesson was in line with all the policies of the school," Janiuk said.
"The problem here is ignorance. It's not bigotry; it's not hate speech. The only way to fight ignorance is through education."

However, Bennett said he believes such discussions can be harmful to still-maturing high school students.

"They may look like they're adults, but they're teenagers," he said. "They have a lot of stuff that they're trying to figure out."

Janiuk said the parents' criticism of Franklin's teaching was also personal
.

"Even though he may not have directed it at me, it attacked me," she said.
"It's not an easy thing to deal with, knowing a sizeable part of the town i s upset that you exist."

Bennett said parents should have been notified ahead of time about the discussion and given the option to remove their children.

"You can talk about gays, but there are times when that discussion needs to stay away from the students. It becomes offensive to people," Bennett said.
"If someone decides to do that to their own body, that's a very private issue."

Janiuk disagreed.

"They're not private issues, they're life issues," she said. "They're no more private than your ethnicity or your family. That's who you are and there's nothing wrong with expressing it. It doesn't have to be kept secret."

In addition to the rally, Janiuk said, she is organizing an educational panel and forum at Memorial in response to the debate. She also plans to meet with the school's principal.

"I've had a lot of people say, 'Jess, just tell me where to be,' " Janiuk said. "I'm not concerned (for myself). It's for everyone who is now being told they're not welcome here."

In early May, the school board received an unsigned letter from parents objecting to sexual and political issues in the classroom. Bennett said the group is asking for the school's administration and staff to be retrained o n rules, for the school to enforce a dress code for teachers banning
"offensive" clothing such as "rainbow-colored necklaces," for the school board to hold a forum with parents twice a year and for the educational system to "return to American heritage and tradition in the classroom."

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This archive was generated on Thu May 12 2005 - 08:18:57 Central Daylight Time