Loyalty Oath Firing in California
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| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog |
Inside Higher Ed has a story today about Marianne Kearney-Brown, a math professor at California State University East Bay who was fired for not signing a “loyalty pledge.”
Unlike loyalty pledges in the McCarthy Era (which forced you to admit to be whether you have ever been a member of the communist party), the pledges being used at the school ask faculty to affirm that they will “support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Kearney-Brown tried to insert “non-violently” to make the statement conform to her religious beliefs, but the university would not accept the change.
So... why is a loyalty oath necessary anyway? What about visiting faculty from other countries – why should they have to take this sort of pledge?
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...you do recognize the difference between an oath from the federal government requiring you to disavow a political philosophy (The McCarthy-ite ones)...
...and a state government (which, while also being a government, is a different animal -- yay federalism) requiring an oath affirming support of the Constitution?
Beyond your completely missing that distinction, are you also opposed to the oaths/affirmations we currently ask of those holding public office?
Lastly, nothing in the original pledge said anything about violence. So what's the issue? Hell, those who achieve CO status during a draft are still put toward non-violent actions that involve supporting and defending the Constitution against all enemies. Support of the Constitution is generally considered a 'non-negotiable'.
Lastly, if she found this requirement so onerous, what was stopping her from simply choosing employment somewhere in our sprawling private sector that wouldn't demand such an oath?