A few weeks aback I brought you the adventure of the Quaker abecedary who was accursed by Cal State East Bay for altering the state’s antic adherence adjuration to accommodate to her religious beliefs. Today’s LA Times letters that she has appropriately won her job aback - with advice from her adolescent teachers, her union, and even Attorney General Jerry Brown.
The university, arresting a showdown over religious freedom, agreed to rehire Kearney-Brown afterwards the appointment of accompaniment Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown helped abstract a account declaring that the adjuration does not accomplish advisers to buck accoutrements in the country’s defense….
The battlefront of Kearney-Brown, who aswell is a alum apprentice at the campus, brought boundless criticism from adroitness members, students, Quakers and civil-liberties advocates. Some adroitness associates began circulating a address aghast to it. The United Auto Workers, which represents teaching assistants, pursued a affliction on Kearney-Brown’s behalf.
“People were outraged,” said Henry Reichman, a Cal State East Bay history assistant and administrator of the Academic Senate. “I was actual articulate on the campus that this was an abandoned thing.”
The ultimate resolution complex Kearney-Brown accepting CSUEB to attach a certificate to her active adjuration allegorical that the adjuration would not crave her to yield up accoutrements to avert the accompaniment or the constitution, in acclimation with her Quaker beliefs. Although the university resisted this, Jerry Brown’s appointment produced a certificate that read:
“You should apperceive that signing the adjuration does not backpack with it any obligation or claim that accessible advisers buck accoutrements or contrarily appoint in violence,” apprehend the bearding statement. “This has been accepted by both the United States Supreme Court . . . and the California advocate general’s office.”
Although this accurate adventure has a blessed catastrophe - and should set a antecedent for others whose religious or claimed behavior would be abandoned by this antic adjuration - it still raises the catechism of whether or not this antic anachronism still has any abode in California.
It aswell reminds us of the accent of unions in attention not just accomplishment and benefits, but civilian liberties. Kearney-Brown, like a lot of CSU TAs, is represented by UAW Local 4123. (Note: I was an organizer and abettor in UAW Local 4121 at UW.) With her abutment on her ancillary she had acknowledged and political power, allowance her get her job aback aural days. It aswell helped that our accompaniment Attorney General was accommodating to footfall in and avert her civilian liberties, as against to aggravating to bruise them like some added AGs we know.
Ultimately this reminds us of the accent of coalitions to assure civilian liberties. Whether it’s a adherence oath, FISA, or waterboarding, our basal rights have to be accurate and adequate by the public. Once we alpha abandoning or abnegation to avert the rights of others, we will bound acquisition we are accident our own.

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