From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V2 #256 Reply-To: aml-list Sender: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk aml-list-digest Thursday, February 5 2004 Volume 02 : Number 256 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 21:53:46 -0700 From: owner-aml-list@lists.xmission.com Subject: [none] > From: Christopher Bigelow To: "'aml-list@lists.xmission.com'" Subject: [AML] (DesNews) U of Utah Bias Lawsuit Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 09:18:44 -0700 Sender: owner-aml-list@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: aml-list Ex-U. actress to get jury trial in bias lawsuit By Angie Welling Deseret Morning News University of Utah theater professors may have violated the constitutional rights of a former student when they refused to allow her to omit profanity from an in-class performance, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that a jury should decide whether the university discriminated against Christina Axson-Flynn because of her membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The unanimous decision overturns U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell's August 2001 decision that requiring an acting student to use profanity when portraying a character does not infringe on students' rights to free speech and exercise of religion. "This is a great victory for religious freedom," said Axson-Flynn's attorney, Michael Paulsen. "It is a unanimous decision rejecting the lower court's approach and finding that a state university may not discriminate= in an academic program on the basis of a student's religious beliefs and freedom of speech. Students cannot be compelled by university officials to violate their religious consciences by word or deed. "That's a huge principle, and I think it will be hugely important to the rest of the nation." Both Paulsen, a law professor at the University of Minnesota who specializes in cases involving freedoms of speech and religion, and fellow Axson-Flynn attorney Brad Parker called Tuesday's decision a landmark ruling. "It affirms the concept that religious convictions have value and are protected under the Constitution," Parker said. "We also believe it= dictates and reaffirms the principle that our educational institutions, like the University of Utah, should be institutions of tolerance for moral and religious beliefs." Axson-Flynn, now 24, said Tuesday she was "thrilled" with the decision, which has been pending since November 2002, when the appeals= court heard arguments in the case. Though disappointed by the resurrection of the case, university officials welcomed a trial as an opportunity to defend the U.'s nationally ranked Actor Training Program. "We're confident that the facts that will be developed in the district court will vindicate the actions of our theater department faculty," department chairman David Dynak said. "We feel throughout this long period of time that the representatives of Christina Axson-Flynn have made a number of unfair and false allegations against the U., against our program and against our faculty. We refute= these baseless allegations and we will continue to defend the integrity of our program." Before she was accepted into the program in 1998, Axson-Flynn told department officials she would not take her Lord's name in vain or use certain expletives. But when she later objected to the words, Axson-Flynn claims she was threatened with a failing grade and told to "get over" her religious convictions. She left the program in 1999 and filed the federal lawsuit the next year. "There is no question that in the instant case, defendants attempted to compel Axson-Flynn to speak," Tuesday's opinion states. "Although they never suspended her from the ATP or explicitly threatened her with expulsion, defendants made it abundantly clear that Axson-Flynn would not= be able to continue in the program if she refused to say the words with which she was uncomfortable." The question, then, is whether the compelled speech was meant for purely educational reasons or if there was an underlying discriminatory purpose. The opinion is clear that restricted or compelled speech is appropriate in schools if it is "reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns." It noted students are often required to express viewpoints contrary to their personal beliefs for any number of reasons, most of which are entirely justified The U. has argued in court documents that scripts are chosen as a teaching tool to "challenge students with characters and stories that might be quite different from their own life experiences." However, Tuesday's opinion calls into question the theater department's motivation in requiring Axson-Flynn's strict adherence to the texts. The court noted Axson-Flynn's allegations that professors instructed her to look to "good Mormon girls" for guidance and that she was told she could fulfill the assignments and "still be a good Mormon." She has also alleged that a male Jewish student was allowed to skip an exercise on Yom Kippur without consequence. The evidence, which the university has not yet had an opportunity to dispute, "certainly raises concern that hostility to her faith rather than= a pedagogical interest in her growth as an actress was at stake in (the university's) behavior in this case," the court said. "(W)e find that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether defendants' justification for the script adherence requirement was truly pedagogical or whether it was a pretext for religious= discrimination," the court said. To prevail at trial, Axson-Flynn must prove professors refused to grant her an exemption specifically because of her religion. While her attorneys said Tuesday that would be easy to do, Assistant Utah Attorney General Alain Balmanno is confident jurors will see that the Actor Training Program is specifically designed to prepare students for a career in professional acting. "I think that the people of Salt Lake City are reasonable people and they're intelligent people and they will understand how and why a= curriculum has to be developed that way," Balmanno said. In analyzing Tuesday's decision, University of Utah law professor Daniel Greenwood expressed concern that the 10th Circuit failed to make a strong distinction between First Amendment issues in high schools or universities, where compelled speech is generally considered to be less harmful because students have the right to leave the classroom. He also noted that while the constitutional rights of an individual student or university are thoroughly discussed in the 52-page opinion,= there is little mention of the free-speech rights of professors. "I think it's part of a larger debate about the role of the First Amendment in the classroom," Greenwood said. "The larger issue is that the court seems to see First Amendment rights for students and a university . . . but there's very little discussion of any First Amendment rights of the faculty member, which is what I would have thought was one of the traditional . . . cores of academic freedom." Greenwood said professors must be free to espouse controversial= points of view without fear, or to require students to examine issues outside= their personal beliefs or comfort zone. "One of the key purposes of a university is to have a space where critical thinking is practiced, and that has to be practiced by the faculty and the faculty has to have the ability to take on unpopular positions," he said. "If I were in a position where I could only ask students to take positions that they agree with, I don't know how I could function." But Paulsen said it is possible to challenge students without violating their core values, as Axson-Flynn has claimed. "No university professor has to teach their class in a way that is hostile to an individual's religious liberty," Paulsen said. "You can recognize professors' academic freedom rights, but at the same time recognize that students have freedoms, too." After leaving the University of Utah, Axson-Flynn enrolled in the acting program at Utah Valley State College. She has since left that school and is awaiting the outcome of this case to decide where to go next. She has continued her acting and has said she would like to return to the University of Utah to complete her studies. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 15:53:48 -0500 From: "Eric D. Dixon" Subject: [AML] COX, _Latter Days_ An essay by C. Jay Cox, writer director of _Latter Days_: http://www.movienet.com/latterdays.html "I don't believe in coincidence," says Lila, the glamorous restaurateur= character in my movie, Latter Days, played by the radiant Jacqueline= Bisset. "These days, I believe in miracles." I thought of those words as I= stood atop the hill Cumorah, which is something akin to Mormon Mecca. I was= being looked down upon by a towering statue of the angel Moroni. Latter= Days, about a gay Mormon missionary, had just played a film festival in= Rochester and I was surprised to find myself in nearby Palmyra, New York,= the birthplace of Mormonism. It struck me as less than coincidental that I= was facing such an epic figure from the religion of my youth. [...] Eric D. Dixon - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 13:56:33 -0700 From: Brent Nelson Subject: [AML] Apropos LDS Film I am new to the AML list so I apologize in advance if this topic has= already been discussed. It seems to me that we, as Latter-day Saints, are in the middle of an artistic pattern. Eugene England, in his "Mormon Literature: Progress and Prospects", outlines the historical periods of LDS literature as the following: 1. Foundation, 1830-80 2. Home Literature, 1880-1930 3. The Lost Generation, 1930-1970 4. Faithful Realism, 1960-present (for full text visit: http://mldb.byu.edu/progress.htm) I believe that LDS film conforms to this same structure. The Church started creating films as soon as it was a common thing. Any one of us can go to= our ward library and see how many "foundational" videos the church has= produced; topics spanning the spectrum of our religion. With the release of God's Army in 2000 (I believe this was the first "big theatre" release), it seems we entered into a "home film" type genre.= Though I personally know of people that joined the Church through their post-inquisitions about Mormonism after viewing the film, I believe that= the movie was accepted more by the members than non-members. We see the evolution of such a genre with the releases of Single's Ward, The RM, Charly, etc. All of these films along with their sister films were written by Mormons for Mormons. (Or at least I truly hope so. If people outside the Church started judging the Church by what they saw in Single's Ward I would worry.) I was wondering what everyone else thinks about this. Does anyone know of any other "big theatre" releases that are scheduled for the future? Any= that will reach outside Utah and the west coast? Any signs of seeing a "faithfully realistic" film anytime soon? e Brent Nelson ***Note: I know that what I have said in this email is general and that there are exceptions to what I have said.*** - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 20:53:44 -0700 From: "J. Scott Bronson" Subject: Re: [AML] YOUNG & GRAY, _Standing on the Promises_ On Fri, 30 Jan 2004 22:29:08 -0700 Jacob Proffitt writes: > I'd say that anyone wishing to deal with anything weighty, the > hard subjects so-to-speak, had better take some steps first > to build a better relationship with the Mormon audience before > they waste their time building intricate, potentially caustic > mousetraps. I hear a lot of impatience from artists who wish to > jump right off the bat into the most controversial work they feel > capable of tackling. I wonder if we wouldn't benefit, both as > artists and as a culture, if some of our artists slowed down, > relaxed, let us get to know and trust them before they set out > to "correct", "teach" or "inform" us. Yep. That's exactly right. And while some of us may be tempted to believe that this is more true in our culture than elsewhere, consider the advice that the venerable Barta Heiner (actress and faculty of BYU theatre) received from some-really-important-and-well-connected faculty member of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (or some such name. Basically a very well respected institution that offers accredited degrees in the theatre arts that was started back in the eighties by some one or another of ACT [in San Fransisco] expatriates.), which was this: When you start a theatre company, if you want it to survive, for the first ten years you must give the audience what they want. Then you can start, gradually, giving them what you think they ought to have. Even then, you must be careful. This is the paradigm that the Hales have followed in Utah where most theatregoers seem to want only singing and dancing and laughing. In the last few years the Hales have actually gotten slightly edgy at times. I went to the Orem production of "The Hasty Heart" a couple years ago to check out an actor who was courting a friend of the family. He needed the Bronson Seal of Approval before he could get too serious with our Amanda. This play has laughs, and drama and some minor swearing. And yet, a brother in my ward explained to me that he liked going to the Hale Center Theater because he knows he'll never hear swearing there. Yes, he had seen "The Hasty Heart." I suppose if the Hales say "damn" "hell" or "bloody" it's not swearing. They've got their audience. Now, there's not much they can do wrong unless they jump way over the line in one big dramatic leap. In establishing the Nauvoo Theatrical Society we tried to follow this same pattern, but in a back-door sort of way. We presumed that there would be people who wanted to see "Mormon Theatre" if they only knew that it existed beyond the two or three inveterate musicals that EVERYbody knows about. The brief, first phase of our endeavor seemed to indicate that indeed that audience does exist. Still, we have to be careful. It'll be awhile, I think, before we can do some of the shows that I'm dieing to do, like "Dear Stone" and "Winding Sheets" and "Survival of the Fittest" and "Confessions." J. Scott Bronson "People do not love better by reaching for perfection, they approach perfection by loving better." - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 22:03:24 -0700 From: "Gae Lyn Henderson" Subject: RE: [AML] Mormon Near-Death Literature --why the question? Unfortunately, I may have cited the wrong book when I sent out this post. = I understand _Embarrassed_ is funny and the book I read was deadly serious. Gae Lyn Henderson - -----Original Message----- From: owner-aml-list@lists.xmission.com [mailto:owner-aml-list@lists.xmission.com]On Behalf Of Thom Duncan Sent: Monday, February 02, 2004 4:38 PM To: aml-list@lists.xmission.com Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Near-Death Literature --why the question? I thought _Embarrassed_ was funny and detailed some thoughts I had on the subject. I think the book needed to be mocked to some degree because I think the science behind NDEs is akin to that of UFOs, and shouldn't be taken that seriously. If NDEs were subjective experiences (as they are purported to be those who have them and who write about them) then why do Christians always see Christ, Jews see Moses, and Athiests see their Great Aunt Hattie? In the spirit of Occam's Razor, I think NDEs can be more easily explained by mis-firing neurons as the brain shuts down due to trauma or supposed eminent death. That seems to be the only to explain where everyone has different experiences. Thom Duncan - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 00:02:11 -0500 From: "Eric D. Dixon" Subject: RE: [AML] Newsweek Mention of Sundance I just found out that my brother-in-law is friends with the guys who made= _Napoleon Dynamite_. Very cool... Eric - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 16:32:02 -0600 From: "Allred, David Alan \(UMC-Student\)" Subject: [AML] Questions on CARD, _Seventh Son_ I've been lurking on this listserv for a few years but have never posted except for a couple of book reviews. However, I'm working on a research project and want to draw on the collective wisdom of list. I'm writing a reader-response paper on Orson Scott Card's _Seventh Son_, and I want to record the responses of some real readers. If you feel like you can help, please email me off list (daaa58@mizzou.edu). I'm especially interested in hearing from you if you have read _Seventh Son_ and wouldn't mind sharing with me via email some of your reactions to the book, especially your thoughts on how Card draws on Joseph Smith's experiences in his depiction of Alvin. I anticipate this taking only a few minutes of your time. Of course, if you have any questions about my project, I'd be happy to answer them. Thanks in advance, Dave Allred - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V2 #256 ******************************