Middle East studies in the News

TiZA Families Join Lawsuit Against ACLU in Battle Over Religious Designation

by Erin Carlyle
City Pages (Minneapolis / St. Paul News Blog)
March 12, 2010

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2010/03/tiza_families_j.php

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/9282

Families of children attending Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy want to join the legal fight raging between the school and the ACLU. In court filings, the parents say that the ACLU is off-base.

The ACLU investigated the school and then sued it in 2009 for what it says are violations of the Constitution's requirement of separation of church and state.

But in a motion filed in court Wednesday, the parents say that the very things the ACLU is criticizing are concessions it is required to make, according to the Strib:

"The accommodations offered at TiZA are the same accommodations the [families] believe are required at TiZA and are the same accommodations the [ACLU] alleges are prohibited at TiZA," the motion said.

"Basically, TiZA is being sued for the Muslim-ness of its students," it said.

The issue was first brought to light when conservative Strib columnist Katherine Kersten accused TiZA, a publicly funded, public charter school, of being a religious school.

Note: Articles listed under "Middle East studies in the News" provide information on current developments concerning Middle East studies on North American campuses. These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of Campus Watch and do not necessarily correspond to Campus Watch's critique.

receive the latest by email: subscribe to campus watch's free mailing list