I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Off-Topic => Off-Topic: Talk about anything you want. => Topic started by: MooseMom on February 03, 2012, 12:30:40 PM
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I thought this was a really interesting story regarding how "freedom of speech" is defined. What do you all think?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cheerleader-must-compensate-school-that-told-her-to-clap-rapist-2278522.html
A teenage girl who was dropped from her high school's cheerleading squad after refusing to chant the name of a basketball player who had sexually assaulted her must pay compensation of $45,000 (£27,300) after losing a legal challenge against the decision.
The United States Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a review of the case brought by the woman, who is known only as HS. Lower courts had ruled that she was speaking for the school, rather than for herself, when serving on a cheerleading squad – meaning that she had no right to stay silent when coaches told her to applaud.
She was 16 when she said she had been raped at a house party attended by dozens of fellow students from Silsbee High School, in south-east Texas. One of her alleged assailants, a student athlete called Rakheem Bolton, was arrested, with two other young men.
In court, Bolton pleaded guilty to the misdemeanour assault of HS. He received two years of probation, community service, a fine and was required to take anger-management classes. The charge of rape was dropped, leaving him free to return to school and take up his place on the basketball team.
Four months later, in January 2009, HS travelled to one of Silsbee High School's basketball games in Huntsville. She joined in with the business of leading cheers throughout the match. But when Bolton was about to take a free throw, the girl decided to stand silently with her arms folded.
"I didn't want to have to say his name and I didn't want to cheer for him," she later told reporters. "I just didn't want to encourage anything he was doing."
Richard Bain, the school superintendent in the sport-obsessed small town, saw things differently. He told HS to leave the gymnasium. Outside, he told her she was required to cheer for Bolton. When the girl said she was unwilling to endorse a man who had sexually assaulted her, she was expelled from the cheerleading squad.
The subsequent legal challenge against Mr Bain's decision perhaps highlights the seriousness with which Texans take cheerleading and high school sports, which can attract crowds in the tens of thousands.
HS and her parents instructed lawyers to pursue a compensation claim against the principal and the School District in early 2009. Their lawsuit argued that HS's right to exercise free expression had been violated when she was instructed to applaud her attacker. But two separate courts ruled against her, deciding that a cheerleader freely agrees to act as a "mouthpiece" for a institution and therefore surrenders her constitutional right to free speech. In September last year, a federal appeals court upheld those decisions and announced that HS must also reimburse the school sistrict $45,000, for filing a "frivolous" lawsuit against it.
"As a cheerleader, HS served as a mouthpiece through which [the school district] could disseminate speech – namely, support for its athletic teams," the appeals court decision says. "This act constituted substantial interference with the work of the school because, as a cheerleader, HS was at the basketball game for the purpose of cheering, a position she undertook voluntarily."
The family's lawyer said the ruling meanst that students exercising their right of free speech can end up punished for refusing to follow "insensitive and unreasonable directions".
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My question is: Why was the rapist ( who plead guilty) allowed to be on the team? ? ? ? ?
The message in this is clear: You can get away with rape as long as you are a jock. Boys will be boys.
Ugh!
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My question is: Why was the rapist ( who plead guilty) allowed to be on the team? ? ? ? ?
The message in this is clear: You can get away with rape as long as you are a jock. Boys will be boys.
Ugh!
Because he pleaded to a lesser charge, the rape charge was dropped, so he was eligible to remain on the team. Not a worthy explanation, but that's what happened.
He didn't technically "get away with it" as he was punished according to law (although I don't think it was enough), but what is intriguing is that this young lady was being FORCED to cheer for him because she was on the cheerleading squad. Is refusing to cheer for your rapist exercising your freedom of speech? Apparently the judges have deemed that if you are a cheerleader, you lose this freedom.
There has been a lot of talk in this election year about how we are losing our freedoms. Wasn't it Gov Perry of Texas who was particularly vocal about this very issue? Yet here in his Texas, a young lady is being told that she cannot exercise her freedom of speech (or freedom to remain silent) and MUST applaud the athletic exploits of her rapist simply because she is a cheerleader.
So, where's HER freedom of speech? Or does not that apply to girls in Texas?
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The team ought to have refused to have the perpetrator on the team IMO. A lesser charge, sexual assault, is still a criminal act and the victim ought to have had the support of the organization behind her rather than have it send the message that the criminal is more important than the victim. Sheer madness on the part of the school is what I think.
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I think this is one of those situations where the law is applied very strictly and avoids the tangential moral issues. Strictly as a "Freedom of Speech" claim I think the plaintiff had a very weak case and I agree with the court. She was on the cheering team voluntarily and (probably) knew the boy in question was on the team her squad would be cheering for. She refused to perform her duties as a cheer leader and thus was removed from the squad. This would have been appropriate for any girl refusing to participate for whatever reason as much as it would be appropriate to "fire" a basketball player if he refused to shoot free throws for some reason.
I think the girl needed to decide BEFORE she joined the squad whether she was willing to cheer when this boy was present or at least have an arrangement in place with the team's coach and an "understanding" so to speak of what she would do when the time came. However, I do think if she had to stay off the team to avoid this situation that she was being further victimized by the boy who allegedly raped her. The fact that he was not convicted of rape does weaken her case, but I think most of the blame should fall on the basketball coach and principal who obviously cared more about the basketball team than the girl involved in this case. This situation sounds a LOT like the Penn State case where no one wanted to be the "whistle blower" and face all of the pressure, put their job at risk, etc. I'm sure if the boy involved was kicked off the team then he would have been hauling someone into court.
Our court system has become sadly Pharisaical and lost all common sense due to the fear generated by a proliferation of frivolous lawsuits. I do agree that the reduced charge itself should have been enough to keep him off the team and thus the school "leaders" can rightfully take the blame for turning a bad situation into a worse one.
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Willis, I may have read it wrong, but I didn't get the impression that the girl joined the cheerleading squad AFTER she was assaulted. I got the impression that she was already on the team when she was assaulted.
I don't think she should have been forced to cheer for this guy even if she has not been "raped", just merely "assaulted". ???
I wonder where the cheerleading coach is in all of this?
I do not think this is a frivolous lawsuit at all.
You are right, Willis, that the school leaders handled this badly.
I'd be interested to know how many of these judges were women. I can guess...
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I do not think this is a frivolous lawsuit at all.
My point about a frivolous lawsuit was directed at the BOY in this case. More than likely if he had been kicked off the team (as he should have been with a guilty plea to sexual assault), there would have been some sort of lawsuit against the school system...especially if he's a really good player and the action would cost him a college scholarship or whatever. The school system and/or the girl involved could get hit with huge legal bills even if the lawsuit is totally frivolous as it would be if brought by the boy's attorneys. I think the fear of such litigation drives a lot of school systems to allow behavior that was once considered totally unacceptable and would have led to suspension or expulsion.
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Willis, I agree with your assessment of the situation. And it is appalling the contemplate this indictment of how low our culture has sunk.
MooseMom, where indeed are the adults - the coaches - who should be looking out for the welfare of the young people with whom they are entrusted.
What message is this whole affair sending to the other fine young men on that team? To athletes in general?
The message is simple and clear: There is no need to show consideration for others. Have your "fun" and you won't have to worry about the consequences. You can get away with it. You are "special" and the rules of moral conduct do not apply to you.
I am still outraged.
Aleta
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Oh, OK Willis, I understand what you're saying. I misunderstood; I take your point.
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Wow, I'm glad I didn't grow up in Texas! Outrageous!
Definite message: boys, we don't like it but it's OK to be a sexual criminal
girls: don't get all indignant when you're raped