Teacher is fired for altering oath
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A university math teacher says she was fired for practicing her Quaker beliefs.
Marianne Kearney-Brown, who taught at Cal State East Bay, says she was fired after changing the wording on her state-required oath of allegiance.
The 50-year-old Quaker was asked to swear or affirm that she would support and defend the U.S. and state Constitutions “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Kearney-Brown instead wrote “nonviolently” in front of the word “support,” crossed out “swear,” and circled “affirm,” to conform with her Quaker beliefs.
An attorney for the university says modifying the oath is “very clearly not permissible.”
Campus officials had given Kearney-Brown the option of signing the oath and adding a note to her personal file expressing her views. She declined.
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