There Is No Law But Islam

Apparently that is the though of some here in Minnesota (HT Capt Ed and Gary Gross).

A St. Cloud State University student in a teacher-training program at Technical High School left the school in late April because he says he feared for the safety of his service dog.

The school district calls it a misunderstanding, and officials there say they hoped Tyler Hurd, a 23-year-old junior from Mahtomedi who aspires to teach special education, would continue his training in the district.

Hurd said a student threatened to kill his service dog named Emmitt. The black lab is trained to protect Hurd when he has seizures.

Let me acquaint you with a little law we have here in the United States called the "Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990". The act was introduced and enacted in order to make sure that people with various physical disabilities are given a chance to succeed like every one else. To whit, the ADA...

The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, State and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunications. It also applies to the United States Congress.

Emphasis mine. Now that we have set the groundwork, let's go into detail here....

The threat came from a Somali student who is Muslim, according to Hurd, St. Cloud State and school district officials.

The Muslim faith, which is the dominant faith of Somali immigrants, forbids the touching of dogs.

Hurd trained at Talahi Community School and Tech. He said his experience at Talahi was good. The Somali students there warmed to the dog and eventually petted him using paper to keep their hands off his fur, Hurd said.

Things didn't go as well at Tech, Hurd said. Students there taunted his dog, and he finally felt he had to leave after he was told a student made a threat. Hurd met with Lockhart but said he did not feel comfortable continuing.

Who is running the school there at Tech? The students or the Administration?

Julia Espe, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment for St. Cloud school district, said the school needed to do a better job communicating.

“I think it was a misunderstanding where we didn't really prepare either side for possible implications," Espe said.

You weren't prepared to deal with the provisions of a law that has been in force for almost 30 years? Don't you have students, as most school districts do, who make you subject to ADA compliance?

(Kate) Steffens (Dean of the SCSU School of Education) said it is important to respect different cultures and the rights of disabled students.

“I think this is part of the growth process when we become more diverse," Steffens said.

Steffens called Hurd a good student and committed young man.

Gary Loch, who is the diversity coordinator for the district, said the situation was an unfortunate case of miscommunication.

“I'm not quite sure where the breakdown comes into play here," Loch said.

Here is a hot tip for BOTH Ms. Steffens and Mr. Loch. The breakdown came when you catered to a religion over the RULE OF THE LAW! The law of the land is what should take precedent here, not the religious beliefs of the students.

As Captain Ed had this to say on the subject:

We have laws in this country, decided on by democratically-elected representatives. If Muslims don’t like these access laws, then let them elect representatives that will reverse them, or failing that, go back to Somalia where violence trumps the law and they would be more comfortable. Shame, shame on Technical High School for buckling under to thugs and abandoning their responsibilities in such a cowardly manner.

Shame indeed.