Dear Governor, Senators and Representatives of the Legislature of the State of Maine,
We, the undersigned Artists of Maine, including many who have taught in our schools in various arts-in-education programs of the Maine Arts Commission, wish to register our disaffection with and opposition to the recent public law requiring school personnel to be fingerprinted.
We find this law an unacceptable violation of civil liberties violating the 4th Amendment right against arbitrary and unnecessary search and seizure without just cause or suspicion, and wish to stand in solidarity with teachers who oppose it. We believe, as they do, that the fingerprinting law is an unjustifiable and unconstitutional act of coercion and, consequently, an unlawful intrusion into the professional and personal lives of teachers by the state.
We wish the Governor and Legislature, as well as members of the legal profession who fail to experience this law as a threat to all our civil liberties, to imagine reporting by order to be fingerprinted on penalty of losing their occupations. We wish them further to know that contemplating submission to this law, or submitting (as many who oppose it have done to protect their occupations), sticks in the craw of those of us raised on the principles of independence of this country, causing a visceral response of revulsion. The democratic and republican principles violated by this law are even more repugnant to us who also work as teachers and honor the responsibility to communicate and impart to our children the very traditions we perceive the law violates.
We wish it known our opposition is intelligent and informed, understanding there has been little if any credible evidence the fingerprinting law achieves its intended purpose, the protection of our children from sexual predators, and that the law’s support is driven by ignorance and fear.
Be it further known that no other professional group holds the well being of our children closer or deeper in our hearts than the teachers and artists who teach in our schools.
For all these above reasons, we, the undersigned artists and independent arts-in-education professionals, declare our forceful opposition to the so-called fingerprinting law, declare our solidarity with those who oppose it, especially the teachers who have already taken a patriotic stand against the law and have lost their teaching positions because of this stand, and urge the Governor and Legislature to restore their positions and repeal the law as soon as possible.
Karen Adrienne, Gardiner; Charlotte Agell, Brunswick; Cicely Aikman, Friendship; Vanessa Barth, Bath; Gretchen Berg, Portland; Henry and Joan Braun, Weld; Bruce Brown, Portland; Dennis Camire, Kennebunk; Bill Carpenter, Stockton Springs; Diane Dahlke, Cumberland Center; Jill Dalton, Portland; Peter Dembski, Surry; Anne Dodson, Camden; Maggie Foskett, Camden; Jackson Gillman, Mt.Desert; Donna Gold, Stockton Springs; Rebecca Goodale, So. Portland; Joe Hemes; Nancy A. Henry, Parsonsfield; Phyllis Janto, Washington; Kate Kennedy, So. Portland; Jimena Lazansky, Lincolnville; Lucy Lippard, Georgetown; Lin Lizberger, Gorham; Diana Long, Phippsburg; Rose Marasco, Portland; Natasha Mayers, Whitefield; Mark Melnicove, Dresden; Ernest Paterno, Portland; Scott Penney, Porland; Dee Peppe, Appleton; Carlo Pittore, Bowdoinham; Janet Redfield, Lincolnville; Nan Ross, Bath; Abby Shahn, Solon; Thomas Patton, Phippsburg; Robert Shetterly, Brooksville; Martin Steingesser, Portland
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The Bowdoin Coaltion Against War would like to invite students, staff, and faculty from USM to an anti-war rally at Bowdoin College.
The event will include speakers, musical performances, and informational booths. Come have fun, share information and opinions, and network for future action. The event will be informal, so if you can’t attend the whole thing, please come for what you can!
The rally will be Monday, Nov. 25, from 8 to10 p.m. in the Smith Union at Bowdoin College.
Thank you, and we hope to see you there.
Lauren Pappone
senior sociology and environmental studies major
Bowdoin College