The Mansfield North Central Ohio Tea Party Association is suing Mansfield City Schools in federal court, claiming the district violated its civil rights when it withdrew permission for a controversial tea party event to be held on school grounds.
The non-school event was a presentation by Usama Dakdok, characterized by some as “anti-Islam,” on the evening of March 28.
Mansfield Superintendent Dan Freund announced the morning March 28 that the school would not host the tea party event and cited safety concerns about the number of people who would turn out to support or oppose Dakdok.
Freund said the presumed content of the speaking event was not a factor in the decision.
Curt Hartman, a Cincinnati-area attorney representing the tea party, said that is untrue.
“We believe that it is readily apparent that the evidence will only further confirm that the decision of Freund to cancel the tea party’s event was based solely upon and in reaction to the efforts of the Council on American Islamic Relations and other organizations to stifle Mr. Dakdok from having his presentation,” Hartman said in a written statement.
“The Supreme Court has made clear that speech cannot be punished or banned simply because it might offend a hostile mob.”
A coalition of advocacy groups opposed to the message of the speaker held a press conference March 28 after Freund’s announcement. The groups, including the Mansfield branch of the NAACP, applauded the school district for not allowing the event to happen.
Freund said today the school district was legally allowed to withdraw permission for the event and was right to do so.
“We feel pretty comfortable that we made the decision based on a student safety issue unrelated to the speaker,” he said.
Freund said the tea party group would be allowed to rent school facilities for future events. For example, Judge Roy Moore is scheduled to speak in the school’s auditorium at 7 p.m. April 15 for a “Hope For America” rally.
Moore is former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, best known for his refusal to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the state courthouse and subsequent removal from office.
The tea party group was able to arrange an alternate location for its March 28 speaking event not allowed at the school. More than 350 people crowded into an office complex facility to hear Dakdok. Tea party members receptive to the lecture bumped elbows with concerned listeners from the local branch of the NAACP and the Islamic Society of Mansfield.
No one was observed protesting outside during Dakdok’s 150-minute lecture. The Christian evangelist’s interpretations of Islam and the Koran drew mixed reactions from the crowd. The meeting included a few outbursts, but was otherwise orderly.