If the competition is held on multiple days of the weekend as you suggest,
then maybe some people could be reasonably accommodated upon request. For
example, a Jewish student may be able to compete on Sunday instead of
Friday. If the student has to be there the whole time, it is too bad for
that student. There's literally nothing you can do.
Personally, I'd completely disregard the religious issue and simply identify
the days that we'd need to have for the competition. If it could be held
on just one of the three days, then I'd select the day completely unrelated
to religion but based on convenience (e.g. costs, most participation, etc).
In other words, I'd set up the event and not deal with some general and
unworkable religious accommodation policy with the anticipation that some
students may have some problems. I'd reasonably accommodate when requested,
and not before. By looking at it before, ironically, you start to put
yourself in a position to discriminate.
Obviously, there may be more wrinkles to this situation than what I could
ascertain from the information provided, but this is how I'd generally
handle it.
Daren Bakst
On 5/6/09 7:00 PM, "Michael Katz" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> A very simple solution...
>
> Declare Mock Trial to be a sport, move it to under the jurisdiction of the
> Athletic Department and then the team members can miss as many classes as the
> basketball, softball, baseball, et al, players with little regard to
> education.
>
> Okay, not really a viable solution; but I feel better with that rant out of my
> system.
>
> Mike
>
> Michael A. Katz, J.D.
> Professor
> Delaware State University
> Accounting, Economics and Finance Department
> Bank of America Building
> 1200 N. DuPont Highway
> Dover, DE 19901
> (302) 857-6918 (O)
> (302) 857-6924 (F)
> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> ________________________________
> From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk
> [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Daniel Herron [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:35 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Religious discrimination issue
>
> There has been some vehement discussion in NY regarding the high school mock
> trial national tournament not accomodating teams from Orthodox Jewish schools
> in that competitions are held Friday evening and Saturday. Of course,
> fundamental Christian schools refuse to compete on Sundays. State and Federal
> courthouses---where these tournaments are held---tend only to be available on
> the weekends.
>
> In collegiate mock trial, we (I am legal counsel to the mock trial board of
> directors) state that we discriminate against ALL religions and have
> competitions from Friday night through Sunday evenings. What are your
> thoughts on this kind of "discrimination?" How can we in mock trial
> "reasonably accomodate."
>
> Dan Herron
>
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