If prayer is OK for town meetings, what about schools?
AL.com – May 6
Town meetings can have prayer in Jesus’ name, but does that mean that public school events are next? That would be a leap, says a University of Alabama law professor. The High Court on Monday ruled that the town of Greece, N.Y., can continue to open its meetings with sectarian prayer, reversing the decision of an appeals court. “Because (the ruling) makes clear that this context is far removed from anything involving public schools, it would be extremely premature to say that it has any effect on its existing rulings concerning prayer,” said Paul Horwitz, Gordon Rosen professor of law at the University of Alabama School of Law. He said the 5-4 decision — which he called important but unsurprising – mostly clarifies that legislative prayers are allowed as a matter of history and tradition, and that the court won’t “lightly interpret the Establishment Clause in a way that imperils long-settled practices.”
Court’s prayer ruling raises few local eyebrows
Anniston Star – May 7
Local faith leaders said Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding prayers at public meetings is just common sense, but secularists said the ruling could push out individuals of different faiths from the governmental process. In a 5-4 ruling Monday, the court said prayers before public meetings were constitutional, even if the prayers appeared to favor one religion over another. … Joe Smith, a political science professor at the University of Alabama, said Monday’s decision could create a larger gap between Christianity and other faiths in the context of small-town meetings. “If anything, before these local leaders might have been more careful in how they said their prayers,” Smith said. “But now, if these leaders were paying attention (to the ruling), they might now make more reference to Jesus or overt Christian ideas.” Smith said he doesn’t expect the ruling to make waves in Alabama, where the majority of residents identify as Christian, but said in areas with more diverse demographics, the ruling could cause problems.
SummerTide Drama Camp to return to South Baldwin Community Theatre
AL.com – May 7
SummerTide Drama Camp will return to South Baldwin Community Theatre. The camp will begin June 10 for its annual three-week session. The camp is conducted by the University of Alabama’s SummerTide Theatre group. The first week of camp, June 10-14 is geared toward beginners and focuses on basic elements of theatre such as story theatre, dance and music. The second week of camp, June 17-21, is for intermediate-level campers and will focus on monologues, simple scene work, improvisation and dance and music. The third week of camp, June 24-28, is for advanced students and includes work in commedia, scene work, creative writing, dance and music. There are no age restrictions for any of the camps, however, campers must be able to read and take direction.
UA’s Moundville Museum Celebrates 75 Years
Druid City Living – May 7
It’s a birthday celebration, and one you don’t want to miss. The University of Alabama’s Jones Museum at Moundville Archaeological Park is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a series of events this month. The first event is set for this Saturday, May 10. This is fun for everyone in the family, with arts, crafts and technology demonstrations, as well as dance and storytelling performances by artists from all over the country. In addition, visitors will be able to view a special exhibit focused on Moundville Archaeological Park’s evolution and development. The main exhibit will open to the public in the Jones Archaeological Museum. Old photos, posters and logos feature the Civilian Conservation Corps work and the local community’s interactions with the Moundville site.
In cooperation AUTH – University of Alabama
Proslipsis,gr (Greece) – May 7
(Google translate) The foundations for inter-university cooperation in specific fields of research today put Rector and Professor of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the University of Alabama in the United States at a workshop held at the Ceremonial Hall of Aristotle, under the Memorandum of Cooperation between the two academic institutions. The delegation from the American public university (founded in 1831 and is the largest academic institution in the state of Alabama with 35,000 students , led by Senior Associate Dean – College of Arts and Sciences Prof. Luoheng Han), discussed extensively with their counterparts from the AUTH cooperation prospects in seven disciplines (biology , geology, music, theatre, English literature, economics -tourism , literature -classics) . . . . Informal collaboration has existed with the Faculty of Theology in 2009. (Parties) confirmed the cooperation agreement signed in 2013, which will be in effect for five years. (It) includes mutual exchanges of teacher – lecturer, undergraduate – graduate students, doctoral candidates and conferences.