JT of the Missouri State University Pastafarians has told me about some troubling discrimination.
The MSU campus is displaying a Holiday Tree and Menorah - but requests to put up a FSM Holiday display were denied, then false hurdles put in place, and now it seems that communication is being ignored.
It should be noted that Pastafarians are an officially recognized student organization at MSU, with the support of many of MSU’s finest faculty members.
It seems clear that the denial of the FSM display is due to the Dean of the Humanities Dept. and building coordinator, Dr. Lorene Stone.
The display is spectacular, and tasteful by anyone’s standards.
Take a look:
JT and MSU Chemistry professor Dr. Mark Richter have documented their correspondence with Dean Stone. It’s an extremely interesting read; everyone should take a look: JT’s blog post about this.
A note to Dean Stone: you’re running a school, NOT a religious organization. It’s not your place to push your personal beliefs on anyone, nor is it your place to reject beliefs that you don’t subscribe to or take seriously. Jesus would not approve of what you’re doing.
–UPDATE —
It seems the MSU administration is unwilling to discuss the matter. Dean Stone’s most recent correspondence said “I am VERY busy and do not have time to continue this e-mail dialogue with you.”
MSU President Dr. Michael Nietzel has been notified of the issue.
We need your help. We’d like the administration to get a sense of the number of people concerned about this issue. If you choose to write the administration with your views, PLEASE be courteous and respectful. The issue here is equality, not whether Pastafarianism is better than any other belief system.
Dr. Lorene Stone:
lorenestone@missouristate.edu
417-836-5529
Dr. Michael T. Nietzel:
President@missouristate.edu
Thanks for your help.
– UPDATE 2 –
I’ve been forwarded some replies by MSU President Dr. Michael Niezel, which, if accurate, indicate that the administration offered to allow the Pastafarian display to be placed in a different building.
I would like to know why the Pastafarian display is not allowed to be placed next to the other religious displays.
I believe Dr. Stone made the decision to deny the placement of the Pastafarian display based on her biased personal views, and that her decision is being upheld by the administration above her for political reasons.
My view is that a building administrator who allows a Christian and Jewish display, but denies a Pastafarian display has acted inappropriately.
What do you think? Is it enough to be allowed to place the display in another building?
First comment, w00t!
Thanks for the forthcoming help everybody.
JT
Can we PLEASE get those kind of chriFSMas tree’s in the FSM store? I just LOVE them. finnaly a way to truly celebrate holiday, which is of course the greatest holiday ever.
“Pastafarians: We’re looking for peaceful solutions to resolve this. Ideas?”
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A grass roots email campaign seemded to work quite well 2 threads back. Let’s get at it again.
The laughable part is that Dr. Stone didn’t see it coming to this.
Since I don’t happen to have “MySpace” membership, I cannot reply to the young man on his own blog. However, I certainly wish him, and those supporting him, all the very best in getting a reasonable solution to the current quandry of just what is happening there; and why the Dean chooses to allow SOME “religious” symbols while refusing to allow others.
On the other hand, one must remember that, in dealing with this matter, one is in Missouri, a part of what is generally known as “The Bible Belt”. And this is an area in which “fundamentalist” bibliolatry still holds great sway; especially out in the backwoods and hinterlands, where Springfield is located. And, I am afraid that the potential for reasonable response, and/or solution, is so minimal as to be almost non-existent there. Indeed, one might note that, even more than a Century after Mark Twain, the “Hatfields and McCoys” still stand out as one of the principal illustrations of rural Missouri’s level of cultural accomplishments.
We had a similar problem here at Tech. I’m pretty sure that our president (of the Pastafarian club) dropped the four letters “A’, “C”, “L”, and “U” a bit before the university suddenly perked right up. That may have been a coincidence (yeah right), but I have an idea on why it might work. You see, christians base everything they do off of fear: fear of eternal torture, fear of being found out as a homsexual, fear of being called on their overtly unconstitutional actions, etc. That’s why I don’t think you will have to do much more than contacting those organizations, especially the off-campus ones. Remember, the bigger the name, the better.
Gold!
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And I’m not just referring to my post; you could probably get some serious gold out of a discrimination lawsuit. Ok, I was mostly referring to my post…
post her email address - this woman should not be in charge of a university; how can a dean be allowed to deny free speech even if it contradicts her own personal beliefs? - absolutely disgusting behavior.
That sounds pretty messed up to me. How dare they try and exclude the Pastafarians! I think I smell an email-campaign coming on here. If Dean Stone won’t listen to 1 Pastafarian, maybe she’ll be inclined to listen if the rest of us put in our opinion (respectfully, of course).
Dr. Richter sounds like a good guy. Dr. Lorene Stone needs to accept the fact that if your going to publicly support one or two religions, you have to have equal support for ALL religions.
in any case i think we, pastafarians as a whole that is, should be aloud to display our religious beliefs just as much as anyone else
Take it to the newspapers. The more people know about it, the more likely the dean will allow the display to be put up to avoid a law suit.
If that doesn’t work, take it to court as a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution.
I vote for another e-mail campaign, if you can direct us to the right people to send it to.
This was awesome JT.
My admiration goes to you and your group once again.
I don’t think any amount of reasoning will get Dean Stone to allow a Pastafarian display before ChrisFSMas. These ignint stubborn bureaucrats who seem to be in charge of many of our educational institutions don’t like to make fair decisions or changes, let alone within a reasonable amount of time. I think the MSU Pastafarians might try putting up the display off campus, maybe on a frat lawn (if permissible). Add a sign protesting the exclusion from campus and notify the media, go home eat some pasta, get drunk, and repeat.
Doesn’t surprise me really. After all, it’s the man trying to keep us down.
JT Eberhard continues to amaze me.
And the good Prof. as well.
Good luck, MSU Pastafarians!!!
I think he should contact the legal department in the university. Aquiet word in the deans ear should do the trick.
How about Pastafarian carolers in full pirate regalia singing at Dr. stone’s home???? I bet it would make the papers everywhere….
MTU and now MSU? What is wrong with the Universities that happen to have the letter M in front of them? Moronic, Misleading, Malcontented, Miserably lacking in cultural and religious tolerance?
This must end!