Valedictorian Sues School over Jesus Speech
At the 2006 graduation ceremony at Lewis Palmer High School in Monument, Colorado, Erica Corder was one of 15 valedictorians to step to the microphone to make a brief commencement speech.
She had prepared a 30-second speech that had been approved by the principal, but Corder says that God called her to take the speech in a different, and unapproved, direction. She knew that what she had to say would provoke and anger some people, but said that her top priority was to obey God.
Instead of sticking to her approved speech, when Corder delivered her commencement speech she spoke about Jesus and told the crowd that Jesus "loves you more than you could ever imagine." She urged the crowd, "If you don't already know Him personally I encourage you to find out more about the sacrifice He made for you ."
Well, as you can imagine, people were outraged by her speech. In her 30-second spot, Corder started a controversy which is still not settled and is now headed to federal court.
After her speech, parents in attendance as well as students and some of the other valedictorians who gave commencement speeches at the graduation ceremony complained. Some said that Corder used the time allotted for her speech as a Christian recruitment advertisement and that her remarks were highly inappropriate in the setting of a high school graduation.
The high school disciplined Corder by requiring her to write an e-mail apology to be distributed to the entire school community before being granted the diploma that she had academically earned.
Corder filed a lawsuit in federal court, saying that Lewis Palmer High School violated her constitutionally guaranteed rights of free speech and equal protection. In the lawsuit, Corder is not seeking any money beyond attorney's fees. The suit seems to be a matter of principle rather than anything else. Corder's dad, Steve Corder, says that above anything they want to clear things up so that future speakers do not run into the same problem as his daughter did.
The school district has announced that their lawyers will put up a vigorous defense against the lawsuit and that they do not believe that Corder's constitutional rights were violated by the actions of the school officials.
Corder's lawsuit points out that in the school district's written policy entitled "Student Expression Rights" expression that, among other things, is disruptive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous or threatens violence is prohibited. The lawsuit says that the written policy does not specifically prohibit religious speech.
Of the 15 valedictorians who spoke at the commencement ceremony, two did opening introductions, eleven students reflected on their high school years, and Corder and another student were to make closing remarks.
Corder says that she knew beforehand that she would honor God in her remarks to the crowd; however, she knew that there was a good chance of resistance from the principal, so she decided to omit her religious comments during the practice run that the students did in front of him.
The lawsuit alleges that after Corder spoke a teacher escorted her to the assistant principal who informed her that she would not receive her diploma. In a meeting less than a week later, according to the lawsuit, the principal told Corder that her religious remarks were "immature".
School officials forced Corder to write an apology in order to be granted her diploma. She says that she wrote it only because she was afraid that she would not be allowed to attend college if she did not.
In her apology, Corder wrote that she did not intend to offend anyone with her speech and that the principal had not approved her religious remarks. She alleges in her lawsuit that the principal required her to include the words, "I realize that, had I asked ahead of time, I would not have been allowed to say what I did" in her apology.
The apology was distributed via e-mail, and afterwards Corder received her diploma.
Corder's lawsuit says that her lawyers from the Virginia-based Liberty Counsel law firm, that specializes in religious issues, sent a letter to the school board a few weeks later, and asked that the district rescind Corder's e-mail apology and to create a new policy that would allow religious speech.
The lawsuit claims that because the school district refused Corder's attorneys' request and did not retract her apology, she was unfairly portrayed as someone who doesn't follow the rules.
Corder currently attends the Wheaton College in Illinois, which is the same college that Billy Graham attended.