Post by AuntieSocial on Nov 22, 2003 18:31:16 GMT -5
Thank the Lord ... just not in UofL theater playbills
Some criticize ban as free-speech issue[/b]
Click here to read the article on the original site
By MARK PITSCH
Published: November 22, 2003
Publication: The Courier-Journal
University of Louisville theater professor Lundeana Thomas likes to give public thanks to God when she directs a play.
God "fuels my creativity," Thomas said as she prepared for the Dec. 3-7 staging of "Black Nativity," which is set in a Baptist church and is about celebrating the birth of Jesus.
But there will be no such printed thanks in the "Black Nativity" programs.
In a case pitting separation of church and state against freedom of expression and religion, UofL is prohibiting theater department students and faculty members from thanking God in the programs that accompany their productions.
UofL Arts and Sciences Dean James Brennan said his recent decision to ban religious-themed statements of thanks and other personal dedications in the programs is fair — even though a theater department committee voted to approve the practice.
Thomas and some students have criticized the policy, which is being instituted for the first time for next month's production.
"Here we are doing `Black Nativity,' which is about praising God for Jesus, and you can't thank God in the program," said Thomas, a UofL faculty member since 1996. "...You're asking me not to thank someone who is paramount to this production."
The policy also limits performer biographical information. The cast biography information is restricted to past performances and the student's year and major.
Brennan defended the changes.
"The thing the university can't get into, because I don't know how to adjudicate it, is to make a decision, particularly in regard to religious activity, as to what is appropriate and what is inappropriate," he said. "It seemed that this, as a public institution, while not keeping everyone happy, is a fair compromise."
Thomas said, "I understand what (school officials) are saying, that a play is art. But theater mirrors life. We teach that every day. God is a part of life. In my view, without Him there is no life."
Thomas said she routinely printed thanks to God in theater programs until 2001, when a new student handbook banned "purely personal statements, dedications, and attempts at humor" in program listings.
She formally complained about the handbook policy earlier this fall, prompting the department's faculty, staff and student committee to vote to allow programs to "contain expressions of thanks and gratitude, provided they are written affirmatively and professionally."
But Brennan overruled the vote. He said in a Sept.28 memo to Thomas that after consulting with UofL lawyers, he determined that the university and its employees should not have to determine what personal references are appropriate in the personal biography or "special thanks" sections of programs.
"I do not think these judgments can be made fairly, so the best rule, which applies to everyone, is simply to omit all such references," Brennan said in the memo, obtained under the Kentucky Open Records Act.
Marvin Sims, a theater professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., and president of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, a Boulder, Colo.-based organization of students, faculty members and administrators, said he isn't aware of other instances in which a university has adopted a formal policy prohibiting thanksgiving statements. And he said his organization does not have established standards for proper content in programs. But he said the issue may surface elsewhere as campuses grow more conservative, or at predominantly white institutions with an African-American component in their theater departments.
Thomas, who is black, and Sims said spirituality is often a theme in African-American plays.
But Thomas said she thinks Brennan and Russell Vandenbroucke, chairman of the UofL theater department, do not understand spirituality's importance or the desire of some black performers to thank God in programs. Brennan and Vandenbroucke are white.
"I don't think it's purely racial," Thomas said. "But I think there are a lot of things about African Americans that predominantly white universities don't understand, and church and God is one of them."
But Brennan said he consulted with a diverse group of administrators on his decision.
"In terms of decisions that have what might be called cultural implications, it's not as if I'm making them in a void," Brennan said. "I'm rather perplexed that one needs racial credentials to operate at a university."
Barbara Lewis, chairwoman of the University of Kentucky theater department, said programs for that school's productions do not include personal statements by students or faculty.
"One of the feelings of this department is it's very much about group effort," Lewis said. "We don't single out individual students, or faculty for that matter."
David Friedman, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, said he didn't know enough about the UofL situation to comment on it directly. But he said that when free speech and freedom of religion interests confront church-state interests, "the threshold question is whose speech this is."
"If this is the government's program, then no one has the right to speak in it except the government and they can censor to their heart's content," Friedman said. "If, on the other hand, the program is like a student newspaper, then they can't censor based on the content."
Vandenbroucke said the university controls the program, paying for the printing and production costs, and it's a collaborative effort of the department.
"No one is saying to anyone what they can or cannot say, can or cannot do, can or cannot believe," he said. "All we're saying is that people can't say anything in the program not related to the production."
Vandenbroucke said that when he arrived at the school in 2001, he wanted its theater programs to be more professional, and that in addition to statements thanking God some students' personal statements contained inside jokes and references to friends or others unknown to the audience — even pets.
Vandenbroucke said he began editing the programs and returning them to the company for approval. He said he realized some students and faculty members had hurt feelings because of his editing, so he developed a questionnaire that asks only about past performing credits and a student's major and year of study.
The questionnaire has upset some students.
"If I personally was to thank God or whomever I wanted to thank ... I want the freedom to do that, and I don't mind somebody else saying whatever they want to say," said Mary Holt, 29, a UofL senior from Louisville who is playing Mary in "Black Nativity."
Jessica Brockway, 21, a Louisville sophomore in the cast who is one of two undergraduates on the department committee that approved personal statements for programs, said such statements should "still be somewhat professional," but should be able to include thanks to God, as some professional programs allow.
Hank Bullitt, 37, of Louisville, who is co-stage manager for "Black Nativity" and is a former UofL theater student, said the dispute has provoked a good debate. "One of my beliefs is theater is supposed to bring up hard questions, and this has," he said. "I just hope the issues come up on stage."
Thomas said that including printed thanks to God was never a problem in the programs of plays she directed until Vandenbroucke became department chairman.
THE FORMER chairman, Michael Hottois, said that he had too many other responsibilities to institute a policy on personal statements in theater programs, and that it was not an issue during his eight years leading the department. But he said he supports Brennan's decision.
"To take it to its logical conclusion, you'd have people thanking Satan, and I'd draw the line there," Hottois said. "And once you draw the line, where do you stop?"
Brennan said the production — set in a Christian church featuring Christian Nativity and hymns — and the programs are different.
"We're not supporting that play because of its religious value," Brennan said. "We're supporting it for its cultural, its educational, its historical (value)."
Thomas, meanwhile, said she has accepted the situation. "I have talked to God and He has let me know it's no longer my battle, it's His battle," she said. "The victory has been that I have done something."
Some criticize ban as free-speech issue[/b]
Click here to read the article on the original site
By MARK PITSCH
Published: November 22, 2003
Publication: The Courier-Journal
University of Louisville theater professor Lundeana Thomas likes to give public thanks to God when she directs a play.
God "fuels my creativity," Thomas said as she prepared for the Dec. 3-7 staging of "Black Nativity," which is set in a Baptist church and is about celebrating the birth of Jesus.
But there will be no such printed thanks in the "Black Nativity" programs.
In a case pitting separation of church and state against freedom of expression and religion, UofL is prohibiting theater department students and faculty members from thanking God in the programs that accompany their productions.
UofL Arts and Sciences Dean James Brennan said his recent decision to ban religious-themed statements of thanks and other personal dedications in the programs is fair — even though a theater department committee voted to approve the practice.
Thomas and some students have criticized the policy, which is being instituted for the first time for next month's production.
"Here we are doing `Black Nativity,' which is about praising God for Jesus, and you can't thank God in the program," said Thomas, a UofL faculty member since 1996. "...You're asking me not to thank someone who is paramount to this production."
The policy also limits performer biographical information. The cast biography information is restricted to past performances and the student's year and major.
Brennan defended the changes.
"The thing the university can't get into, because I don't know how to adjudicate it, is to make a decision, particularly in regard to religious activity, as to what is appropriate and what is inappropriate," he said. "It seemed that this, as a public institution, while not keeping everyone happy, is a fair compromise."
Thomas said, "I understand what (school officials) are saying, that a play is art. But theater mirrors life. We teach that every day. God is a part of life. In my view, without Him there is no life."
Thomas said she routinely printed thanks to God in theater programs until 2001, when a new student handbook banned "purely personal statements, dedications, and attempts at humor" in program listings.
She formally complained about the handbook policy earlier this fall, prompting the department's faculty, staff and student committee to vote to allow programs to "contain expressions of thanks and gratitude, provided they are written affirmatively and professionally."
But Brennan overruled the vote. He said in a Sept.28 memo to Thomas that after consulting with UofL lawyers, he determined that the university and its employees should not have to determine what personal references are appropriate in the personal biography or "special thanks" sections of programs.
"I do not think these judgments can be made fairly, so the best rule, which applies to everyone, is simply to omit all such references," Brennan said in the memo, obtained under the Kentucky Open Records Act.
Marvin Sims, a theater professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., and president of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, a Boulder, Colo.-based organization of students, faculty members and administrators, said he isn't aware of other instances in which a university has adopted a formal policy prohibiting thanksgiving statements. And he said his organization does not have established standards for proper content in programs. But he said the issue may surface elsewhere as campuses grow more conservative, or at predominantly white institutions with an African-American component in their theater departments.
Thomas, who is black, and Sims said spirituality is often a theme in African-American plays.
But Thomas said she thinks Brennan and Russell Vandenbroucke, chairman of the UofL theater department, do not understand spirituality's importance or the desire of some black performers to thank God in programs. Brennan and Vandenbroucke are white.
"I don't think it's purely racial," Thomas said. "But I think there are a lot of things about African Americans that predominantly white universities don't understand, and church and God is one of them."
But Brennan said he consulted with a diverse group of administrators on his decision.
"In terms of decisions that have what might be called cultural implications, it's not as if I'm making them in a void," Brennan said. "I'm rather perplexed that one needs racial credentials to operate at a university."
Barbara Lewis, chairwoman of the University of Kentucky theater department, said programs for that school's productions do not include personal statements by students or faculty.
"One of the feelings of this department is it's very much about group effort," Lewis said. "We don't single out individual students, or faculty for that matter."
David Friedman, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, said he didn't know enough about the UofL situation to comment on it directly. But he said that when free speech and freedom of religion interests confront church-state interests, "the threshold question is whose speech this is."
"If this is the government's program, then no one has the right to speak in it except the government and they can censor to their heart's content," Friedman said. "If, on the other hand, the program is like a student newspaper, then they can't censor based on the content."
Vandenbroucke said the university controls the program, paying for the printing and production costs, and it's a collaborative effort of the department.
"No one is saying to anyone what they can or cannot say, can or cannot do, can or cannot believe," he said. "All we're saying is that people can't say anything in the program not related to the production."
Vandenbroucke said that when he arrived at the school in 2001, he wanted its theater programs to be more professional, and that in addition to statements thanking God some students' personal statements contained inside jokes and references to friends or others unknown to the audience — even pets.
Vandenbroucke said he began editing the programs and returning them to the company for approval. He said he realized some students and faculty members had hurt feelings because of his editing, so he developed a questionnaire that asks only about past performing credits and a student's major and year of study.
The questionnaire has upset some students.
"If I personally was to thank God or whomever I wanted to thank ... I want the freedom to do that, and I don't mind somebody else saying whatever they want to say," said Mary Holt, 29, a UofL senior from Louisville who is playing Mary in "Black Nativity."
Jessica Brockway, 21, a Louisville sophomore in the cast who is one of two undergraduates on the department committee that approved personal statements for programs, said such statements should "still be somewhat professional," but should be able to include thanks to God, as some professional programs allow.
Hank Bullitt, 37, of Louisville, who is co-stage manager for "Black Nativity" and is a former UofL theater student, said the dispute has provoked a good debate. "One of my beliefs is theater is supposed to bring up hard questions, and this has," he said. "I just hope the issues come up on stage."
Thomas said that including printed thanks to God was never a problem in the programs of plays she directed until Vandenbroucke became department chairman.
THE FORMER chairman, Michael Hottois, said that he had too many other responsibilities to institute a policy on personal statements in theater programs, and that it was not an issue during his eight years leading the department. But he said he supports Brennan's decision.
"To take it to its logical conclusion, you'd have people thanking Satan, and I'd draw the line there," Hottois said. "And once you draw the line, where do you stop?"
Brennan said the production — set in a Christian church featuring Christian Nativity and hymns — and the programs are different.
"We're not supporting that play because of its religious value," Brennan said. "We're supporting it for its cultural, its educational, its historical (value)."
Thomas, meanwhile, said she has accepted the situation. "I have talked to God and He has let me know it's no longer my battle, it's His battle," she said. "The victory has been that I have done something."
