No Place for Institutional Bias

Students proposing a Gay-Straight Alliance club on the El Modena High School campus and officials of the Orange Unified School District have finally worked out a compromise. While there are questions about the wisdom of this particular compromise, an accommodation could and should have been amicably arrived at a year ago. At least this is a beginning to defuse the tense atmosphere that has prevailed through much of the controversy.

The district had been racked with lawsuits and divisive confrontations, all because the school board refused to allow El Modena’s Gay-Straight Alliance to meet on campus, as other nonacademic clubs do all the time. The school board recently agreed to settle a federal lawsuit by allowing the club to meet on campus and did so with the provision that students not discuss sex. Some experts question whether such a prohibition would be constitutional.

In any event, students have said all along that the purpose of their club was to promote acceptance and understanding. The club was organized last September for that stated goal. That’s a laudable pursuit that one would think school trustees would want to encourage in a learning environment. But the school officials denied permission to meet. Students sued, backed by the provisions of the federal Equal Access Act of 1984. A federal judge ordered school officials to allow the meetings until the lawsuit could be resolved.

It would be nice to think that the school board last week finally chose to allow the club on campus because trustees had seen the error of their narrow thinking. It seems that fear of the consequences of running afoul of a federal law may have been what brought the board to reason and compromise.

School boards simply cannot pick and choose which nonacademic clubs can meet outside of the school curriculum. There can be no place for prejudice and baseless fear in the permit process. Officials also should understand that they are not endorsing student groups in allowing them to have access to facilities.

Out of the disruption and rancor of the last year, however, there are some good lessons to be learned, not only for Orange Unified officials but for all public agencies and the community in general. There is enough ignorance and prejudice on an individual level without adding institutional discrimination to the sad mix. Of all people, public officials should be setting examples of equal application of the law--not sending messages, even unintentionally, that any form of prejudice is acceptable.