Professor Makes Students “Stomp on Jesus Name"

[bonnie]

Townhall Columnists Todd Starnes

Professor Makes Students “Stomp on Jesus”

Todd Starnes

Mar 22, 2013

Professor Makes Students “Stomp on Jesus”

A Florida Atlantic University student said he was suspended from class after he refused a professor’s directive to stomp on a piece of paper with the word “Jesus” written on it.

“I’m not going to be sitting in a class having my religious rights desecrated,” student Ryan Rotela told television station WPEC. “I truly see this as I’m being punished.”

Rotela, who is a devout Mormon, said the instructor in his Intercultural Communications class told the students to write the name “Jesus” on a sheet of paper. Then, they were told to put the paper on the floor.

“He had us all stand up and he said ‘Stomp on it,’” Rotela said. “I picked up the paper from the floor and put it right back on the table.

The young college student told the instructor, Deandre Poole, that the assignment was insulting and offensive.

“I said to the professor, ‘With all due respect to your authority as a professor, I do not believe what you told us to do was appropriate,’” Rotela said. ‘I believe it was unprofessional and I was deeply offended by what you told me to do.’”

Rotela took his concerns to Poole’s supervisor – where he was promptly suspended from the class.

Poole did not return calls seeking comment. According to his university profile, he has a PhD from Howard University and is authoring a book titled, “Obamamania: The Rise of a Mythical Hero.”

A university spokesperson told they could not comment about Rotela’s case due to student privacy laws.

However, the university is defending the instructor’s assignment to stomp on the name of Jesus.

“As with any academic lesson, the exercise was meant to encourage students to view issues from many perspectives, in direct relation with the course objectives,” said Noemi Marin, the university’s director of the school of communication and multimedia studies.

“While at times the topics discussed may be sensitive, a university environment is a venue for such dialogue and debate,” Marin added.

The lesson on bashing the name of Christ is included in a textbook titled, “Intercultural Communication: A Contextual Approach, 5th Edition.”

Fox News obtained a synopsis of the lesson that got Rotela in trouble.

“Have the students write the name JESUS in big letters on a piece of paper,” the lesson reads. “Ask the students to stand up and put the paper on the floor in front of them with the name facing up. Ask the students to think about it for a moment. After a brief period of silence instruct them to step on the paper. Most will hesitate. Ask why they can’t step on the paper. Discuss the importance of symbols in culture.”

[bonnie]

continued..

Professor Makes Students “Stomp on Jesus”

Paul Kengor, the executive director of the Center for Vision and Values at Grove City College, told Fox News he’s not surprised by the classroom lesson.

“These are the new secular disciples of ‘diversity’ and ‘tolerance’ – empty buzzwords that make liberals and progressives feel good while they often refuse to tolerate and sometimes even assault traditional Christian and conservative beliefs,” Kengor said.

Kengor said classes like the one at Florida Atlantic University demonstrate the contempt many public institutions hold for people of faith.

“It also reflects the rising confidence and aggression of the new secularists and atheists, especially at our sick and surreal modern universities,” he said.

The university did not explain why students were only instructed to write the name of Jesus – and not the name of Mohammed or another religious figure.

“Gee, I wonder if the instructor would dare do this with the name of Mohammed,” Kengor wondered.

Rotela said the idea of stomping on the name of Jesus was beyond his comprehension.

“Any time you stomp on something it shows you believe that it has no value,” he told the television station. “If you were to stomp on the word Jesus – it says the word has no value.”

[LifeHiscost]

Surprise! Surprise! and the next scene to be observed?

"“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory."Matthew 25:31 KJV

Well...maybe a little interlude to give them time to think over what they will be giving up should they continue to see themselves as master of their own destiny.

God cares!

[bonnie]

Just to put the mind of some concerning my belief that higher education stinks.My four sons went on for "higher education" and have done well.

Some do believe because of their own agenda that to deliberately show this type of disrespect is "higher education". Thankfully my sons did not have those type of "professors"

Had this post read....

Andrews University Professor makes students stomp on name of Mohammad I don't believe that the response would have been as snide and "arrogant"

I don't think there is anything sacred about a name on a piece of paper,but I would hope those that claim a "higher level of learning" understand that simple little word "respect"

[olger]

[BobRyan]

Townhall Columnists Todd Starnes

Professor Makes Students “Stomp on Jesus”

Todd Starnes

Mar 22, 2013

Professor Makes Students “Stomp on Jesus”

A Florida Atlantic University student said he was suspended from class after he refused a professor’s directive to stomp on a piece of paper with the word “Jesus” written on it.

“I’m not going to be sitting in a class having my religious rights desecrated,” student Ryan Rotela told television station WPEC. “I truly see this as I’m being punished.”

Rotela, who is a devout Mormon, said the instructor in his Intercultural Communications class told the students to write the name “Jesus” on a sheet of paper. Then, they were told to put the paper on the floor.

“He had us all stand up and he said ‘Stomp on it,’” Rotela said. “I picked up the paper from the floor and put it right back on the table.

The young college student told the instructor, Deandre Poole, that the assignment was insulting and offensive.

...

Well done Ryan Rotela!

(I for one was relived to find out this is not yet another news item about things that go on at LSU ...)

I am sorry for the students at FAU that may have to put up with that nonsense from the faculty.

in Christ,

Bob

[phkrause]

Well done Ryan Rotela!

(I for one was relived to find out this is not yet another news item about things that go on at LSU ...)

I am sorry for the students at FAU that may have to put up with that nonsense from the faculty.

in Christ,

Bob

[Bravus]

It's a stupid exercise to do.

It might be worth thinking, though, about the fact that American kids would have no problems at all stomping on the name of Krishna, Allah, Zoroaster or whoever.

The exercise is not meant to be about blasphemy, but about starting students thinking about what is sacred and why.

It's still a stupid exercise.

[bonnie]

It's a stupid exercise to do.

It might be worth thinking, though, about the fact that American kids would have no problems at all stomping on the name of Krishna, Allah, Zoroaster or whoever.

The exercise is not meant to be about blasphemy, but about starting students thinking about what is sacred and why.

It's still a stupid exercise.

Maybe mine never had the right type of "higher education"

Long before college age they understood the difference between what was sacred and what was just plain respect for others.Never as a demand by a teacher of "higher education would they have written the name Krishna/Allah etc and then stomped on it.

But on the other hand I can't imagine a teacher that would disrespect other religions as they do "christianity". You would never see that kind of exercise in the US demanding the name Mohammad be written and then stomped on in our public schools.

[fccool]

I don't think the issue is as much about stomping, because the exercise guide seems to state that "most will hesitate", but it's about the suspension of the protesting student, which is of course not something even most atheists would approve of.

[olger]

The worst of all despotism is the heartless tyranny of liberal ideas.

[bonnie]

I don't think the issue is as much about stomping, because the exercise guide seems to state that "most will hesitate", but it's about the suspension of the protesting student, which is of course not something even most atheists would approve of.

Really? Then perhaps if it was "hesitating" then have them write "mother" " father" and demand they stomp on it.That would have gotten the point across if college students are so ignorant they truly don't understand the difference between those two words

The excuse that it is to show the difference between sacred and respect is ludicrous.

[Bravus]

What *is* the intention then, do you think? Genuine question.

[CoAspen]

Really? Todd Starnes again? Maybe we need a Gossip Rag Forum!!!

[bonnie]

Really? Todd Starnes again? Maybe we need a Gossip Rag Forum!!!

No one has made any further comment for two days after it was objected to. If you have a problem with "Todd Starnes" take it up with those that want to pursue this or don't read about "Todd Starnes"

[bonnie]

Florida Atlantic University 'Jesus stomping' case: Student Ryan Rotelas upset,

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- State education officials will be taking a closer look at Florida Atlantic University today after Gov. Rick Scott responded to a controversial classroom exercise.

A class, taught by Vice Chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party Deandre Poole, was reportedly following an exercise in the instructor's manual that had students write the name "Jesus" in large letters on a piece of paper, put the paper on the floor, face up, and after a brief period, tell them to step on the paper.

The exercise was part of a chapter dealing with the power of certain words. One student, a junior named Ryan Rotelas, said he refused to participate.

While the university said Rotelas was never punished for his refusal, the student's lawyer said school officials told Rotelas he would be suspended.

FAU officials have apologized and said the student will not be punished. They also stated the exercise will not be assigned again.

Gov. Rick Scott wants a detailed report from state university system Chancellor Frank Brogan regarding the incident.

"Whether the student was reprimanded or whether an apology was given is in many ways (inconsequential) to the larger issue of a professor's poor judgment," Scott stated in a letter to Brogan. "The professor's lesson was offensive, and even intolerant, to Christians and those of all faiths who deserve to be respected as Americans entitled to religious freedom."

Meanwhile, the controversy has prompted the Church of All Nations in Boca Raton to plan a march in response, according to Reverend Mark Boykin.

Reverend Boykin is still fuming over what the FAU student was asked to do in class.

"To write the name of Jesus on a piece of paper, and then to stop and contemplate what they were doing. And then to stop on it," says Rev. Boykin. "We find this to be unconscionable, unprofessional and completely unacceptable."

This comes despite repeated apologies from FAU leaders.

"We don't plan to use this exercise again, we apologize to everyone who felt it was too sensitive we recognize that," says Dr. Charles Brown, Senior Vice President of Student Affairs at FAU.

Dr. Brown says Rotelas was never up for punishment for refusing to step on a piece of paper with Jesus' names on it. A lawyer for Rotelas says otherwise.

"He met with the school officials about it and was informed of his suspension," says Hiram Sasser, with the Liberty Institute.

That's when Sasser says FAU did an about face.

"Their first mistake was backing the professor and the assignment. But then they found out most of America didn't agree with them," says Sasser.

Rotelas is back in class, but with a different instructor. He claimed "victory" Tuesday on his Facebook page once the university decided he wouldn't be punished.