The School Of Tough Shit

The University of the Cumberlands is a Kentucky institution which has recently qualified for grants amounting to roughly ten million dollars, as decided by a recent bill which passed both houses of the legislature and now awaits the signature of Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher. The dean of the school is Dr. James Taylor, wo seems to have decided to embroil the school in controversy right at this most innorportune time. For Dr. Taylor has seen fit to suspend a sophomore of the school on the grounds that the former deans list student is gay, a fact the student revealed himself recently in a MySpace journal.

As Doctor Dean himself has explained, the school makes no secret that it holds it’s students to a higher standard than does society in general, and there are plenty of other places for students who might want to engage in the homosexual lifestyle, from San Francisco to “The Left Coast” (his words), and many others as well.

Gay and lesbian rights groups have correctly pointed out that no school that receives state money has a right to pursue any kind of a discriminatory policy in regards to any of it’s students, including as regards to their sexual orientation, but it remains to be seen whether Fletcher has enough backbone to veto the provision in the bill. On the off chance that he might, he has been presented with a petition to do just that, though he has reportedly made no decision as of yet.

As it turns out, the Governor of Kentucky has the power of the line item veto. In the unlikely event that he does find his spine, look for his decision to be challenged in federal court on the grounds of the constitutionality of the line item veto, though I don’t think the federal courts would have any standing in this matter.

Obviously, the dean of the school has made a political move as a challenge to Fletcher, who plans to run for re-election to office in November of next year, in what may well be the most closely watched off year election in the nation in quite some time.

Because of the nature of Kentucky’s gubernatorial elections, being one year ahead of the suceeding national presidential elections, it used to be said that Kentucky was a good bell weather of the current national mood. During these off year elections, if no other time, it could legitimately be said that, as goes Kentucky, so goes the nation. Hopefully, in this next coming case, that will not turn out to be down the toilet. But with the obvious propensity for close elections to be decided by a very small sliver of the voting public that vote mainly if not entirely on wedge, so called “hot button” issues, this recent action by the dean of the University of the Cumberlands might well be the latest, and possibly most ominous yet, salvo fired in the nations “culture wars.”

Because if Fletcher refuses to veto this bill, and is yet re-elected due in large part because of this decision, it might well be said that a majority of the voters of the state of Kentucky has actually voted in approval of state sanctioned discrimination agaisnt an unpopular minority group. Look then for more Republican lawmakers to utilize this issue the following year.

So goes the Republic.