As much as any other state in the union, Ohio grapples regularly with the proper separation of church and state, one of the most traditionally divisive arguments in the history of the United States. The latest chapter in the fight between the secular and the sectarian will be fought in the federal appeals court in Cincinnati, where judges are considering whether to allow a northwestern Ohio school district to distribute fliers that promote, among other things, local churches. The court should look past the school's claim that it distributes all groups' literature equally, and bar teachers from disseminating religious fliers.
The Crestview Local School District allows local groups, such as the 4-H Club, the YMCA and Little League Baseball, to distribute fliers in students' homerooms, which group leaders think is the best way to reach a captive audience of students. The district is in a small town and has only 520 students, who see fliers only after the school principal has reviewed them. He says that the school serves as an open forum, and while it includes messages for local church services and church activities, the school does not endorse any particular one. But by agreeing to distribute any kind of literature, however harmless, the school is giving its implicit endorsement. Giving students notice of what local churches are doing is not the responsibility of teachers or administrators.
Beyond the church and state issue, it seems unfair to exploit captive students as recipients of non-school-related messages, however innocuous they may be. This might seem harsh for so small a place as Crestview, located in a close-knit, small town, but the importance of the federal ruling is the precedent it would set for school districts throughout the Sixth Circuit. If administrators can choose what sorts of fliers to distribute to students, they could unfairly favor certain religious groups or deny students' access to others. The public schools are not the correct forum to spread a religious message, and the court should bar administrators from distributing church information.
Clarett exemplifies pro-sports future
After Pete Rose, Maurice Clarett may be the most controversial sports figure in America today. Suspended after his brilliant inaugural season for accepting improper benefits and then lying about it to investigators, Clarett has been engaged in a public battle with not only his former handlers at Ohio State University, but potential future employers at the NFL. Luckily for Clarett, a ruling by a U.S. district judge in New York has brought him a victory against the NFL and that much closer to playing professional football in the future. After all his personal blunders and his very public fights with collegiate and professional athletics, Clarett deserves a chance to enter the NFL draft. Beyond the benefits specific to Clarett, the new ruling will change the way the NFL picks players and enable young stars to get earlier starts as pros.
Before Judge Shira Scheindlin's decision last week, the NFL had a rule that players could not enter its draft until they had been out of high school for three years. Because Clarett only played one season his freshman year, he would have had to wait until his junior year before he could be eligible - but the time would have been spent idle after his indefinite suspension from the Buckeye football team. Now Clarett has an opportunity to capitalize on his talents in the only way possible, as a professional athlete. Scheindlin recognized the very important antitrust issue in the case, that the NFL rule injured players like Clarett in that it prohibited them from selling their services to the only buyer, since there is only one professional football league in the country.
None of the other professional athletic leagues in the United States have a rule mandating a period of time players must wait after high school before entering the draft. If a star high school pitcher can graduate and enter the farm system of a professional baseball team, why can't a wide receiver take his abilities directly into the big time, if a team will have him? Clarett's eligibility for the draft does not mandate that an NFL team must hire him - or even that he will be picked at all - but just that he should have a fair shot in the big leagues
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