A recent Arizona Daily Star editorial about the removal of Mark Stegeman as president of the Tucson Unified School District governing board depicts Stegeman as a heroic figure who dared to speak and think freely in an oppressive environment. In this depiction, Stegeman was the victim of a cabal of thought-and-speech police, and his ouster was “a victory over free speech and freedom of thought.”
In fact, his removal is a victory for free speech—in the boardroom and the classroom.
In our great democracy, speech and thought enjoy absolute constitutional protection. Actions do not. The Star editorial conveniently ignores Stegeman’s discriminatory actions against Mexican Americans and supporters of Mexican-American studies (MAS).
On May 3, many of us were ejected from the school-board meeting, and several were cited, for the “crime” of invoking our rights of free speech and petitioning our government—that is, to speak in support of MAS.
Stegeman (and Superintendent John Pedicone) had more than 100 cops in riot gear there that evening to quash the free speech the public wanted to exercise. When Lupe Castillo asked for a bit of extra time to read a passage about nonviolent protest, Pedicone and Stegeman ordered her arrested.
People get to speak at TUSD board meetings in the order in which they sign up—a pretty democratic system. But at the May 10 meeting, Stegeman apparently didn’t like the fact that pro-MAS folks had signed up to speak before anti-MAS speakers. So he simply re-arranged the speaker cards to put the anti-MAS speakers first to assure that they would get to speak within the “call to the audience” time period—and the pro-MAS people wouldn’t.
On Aug. 9, a white guy was allowed to make an obscene gesture at a board member while attacking MAS and Mexicans, and making violent threats about “blood flowing” and impending “slaughter.” After the board clerk informed president Stegeman that the speaker’s time was up and that the speaker had violated board policy with his comportment, Stegeman chided the clerk for interrupting the speaker and allowed the white guy “one more minute” to finish his violence-laden diatribe. Let’s review these actions:
A Mexican American asks for extra time to read a passage about nonviolent protest, and Stegeman orders her arrested.
Stegeman rearranges the speaker cards to assure that the only speakers will be anti-MAS ones.
Stegeman allots a white guy “one more minute” so that he can finish making threats of violence and bloodshed.
Then there’s this action: On Aug. 19, under oath, Stegeman testified that the TUSD Mexican-American studies program is a cult.
In a MAS class that Stegeman visited, the students engaged in a bit of free speech: a hand clap—popularized during the Mexican-American civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s—that energizes people (in this case, to learn).
Stegeman testified that he “had an epiphany” upon hearing the clap that the MAS classes were a cult and “that what happens in (MAS) class is collective identity.”
The energizing clap is the classroom counterpart of the pre-game rah-rah rituals that athletic teams (including those within TUSD) engage in to energize the players to go out and play their best.
Given Stegeman’s avowed fear of students being seduced into embracing “cultish” behavior and “collective identity,” we expected him to condemn in his testimony the rah-rah rituals of high school sports teams, and coaches’ exhortations to their teams: There’s no “I” in team! There are no star players here; we’re a team; we win together; we lose together.
However, Stegeman did not condemn these collective-identity exhortations.
Stegeman’s demonizing of MAS courses for behavior he excuses in other TUSD activities is not a lofty manifestation of freedom of thought or speech—it is a discriminatory act of selective enforcement.
Stegeman’s actions manifested bias. They brought dishonor to the district. They were an embarrassment to many of his constituents. They were a disgrace.
That is why he deserved to be ousted.
This article appears in Sep 8-14, 2011.
Nah…the real reason that you’re glad he was “ousted” is because he wouldn’t kiss your ass and endorse your foolish program.
This commentary contains many statements which are (whether intentionally or not) untrue and other statements which are true but present facts selectively or grossly out of context. While district leadership (including me) wishes that we had handled some aspects of some TUSD Board meetings differently, especially on May 3, I unequivocally reject the claim that I showed bias toward speakers on one side. Over the past few months the board has altogether heard many more speakers supporting the Mexican-American Studies program than speakers opposing it, has heard abusive speech from speakers on both sides of the issue, and has applied similar rules to speakers on both sides of the issue. I hope to have an opportunity to respond to the charges in this commentary at greater length, in these pages.
Mr. Stegeman, the fact that the board has heard from more supporters of MAS than it has from detractors is simply a matter of attendance at the board meetings. MAS supporters have consistently come out in large numbers to support the program and have their voices heard. MAS opponents either represent a very small portion of the community or they don’t bother to come to the board meetings and sign up to speak. The process of the call to the audience seems to be fairly democratic in its approach in that those who show up and sign up are heard EXCEPT where you have stepped in and stacked the deck to favor the much smaller anti-MAS contingency.
As for the supposed “abuse from both sides” present at the meetings, I challenge you to provide written transcripts, audio, or video of any MAS supporter speaking abusively at any of the board meetings over the past several months. I have been to most (though admittedly not all) of the meetings and have never heard any supporter speak the type of violent rhetoric which you allowed from “Juan Blanco” at last month’s meeting.
In fact, the MAS supporters who speak out at the board meetings are most often young adults who speak eloquently and passionately in support of the classes. They DO NOT speak with anger and vitriol. These are young citizens who care so much about their education and their community as a whole that they sacrifice their free time, their anonymity, and now (apparently) their safety to make TUSD schools a better place for ALL students.
I’ll look forward to your at length response, though I doubt it will contain any new insight or evidence in defense of the allegations you’ve made here.
The video is all there:
http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/20…
Stegeman, you are the liar. You cannot rewrite history (Mexican-American or otherwise), no matter how much you would like to.
The poster is correct that more MAS supporters than non-supporters have signed up to speak. My point is simply that everyone who has signed up to speak during one of our regular audience calls has had that chance, in most cases at the same meeting and in a small number of cases at the audience call in the following month; and the postponed speakers have included persons on both sides of the issue. And to the other poster: the video is not all there. Complete video of our audience calls this year, even restricted to the MAS-related speakers alone, would be much longer. The video posted is, not surprisingly, selective.
Give it up, Mark. The Tucson community has seen your true colors. You have disgraced yourself by disrespecting some of our community’s most respected elders, such as Lupe Castillo and Salomon Baldenegro. Furthermore, you have intentionally chosen to align yourself with the likes of Tom Horne, Russell Pearce, and John Huppenthal, in your tireless quest to destroy this successful program that has helped so many TUSD students, and that has changed so many young lives, for the better.
You have been disowned by your own party. Pima County Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Rogers has called you a “disgrace” to the Democratic Party, and he has compared you to Neville Chamberlain. Ward I Councilwoman Romero returned your campaign contribution, because she does not want anything to do with you, anymore.
You have absolutely no honor, and you have lost all credibility with the Tucson community. The only way for you to regain your disgraced reputation would be to apologize and step down from the TUSD Board. Do the right thing, Mark, and end this now.
I can refute specific claims of fact, by providing evidence that the claims are wrong. It is hard to respond to character assassination.
Mr. Stegeman you never answered this: “As for the supposed “abuse from both sides” present at the meetings, I challenge you to provide written transcripts, audio, or video of any MAS supporter speaking abusively at any of the board meetings over the past several months. I have been to most (though admittedly not all) of the meetings and have never heard any supporter speak the type of violent rhetoric which you allowed from “Juan Blanco” at last month’s meeting.”
After being criticized for allowing a horribly violent diatribe at a school board meeting, you have been adamant that there has been abusive language on “both sides”…please provide one instance in which horrendous graphically violent rhetoric was used by a MAS supporter. Please provide one example of a pro-MAS audience member making an obscene gesture to a board member…provide one case. Since this seems to be part of your reasoning for allowing John White to traumatize us with blood spilling slaughter…you need to back that up, sir. I, too, have attended a great number of meetings and have never witnessed anything like this from a pro-MAS supporter. We are waiting for your evidence….but, at the end of the day, you were democratically voted out of leadership for your continued and increasingly reckless failure: a natural consequence. That embarrassment will follow you throughout the community…and for certain you won’t be re-elected.
Mark stegman’s arguments are specious: he wants to appear like he’s “objective” but his ACTIONS, public record (including red-baiting), and his SHAMELESS ATTACK (“cult” statement) at the STATE TRIAL are clear proof that he sides with the RACIST attackers of MAS. At some point, Stegman, you need to look at yourself in the mirror, ADMIT to WHO you REALLY are and quit acting like you’re some “objective” White Man that’s “fair.” And yes you and Huppnethal and Horne ARE RACIST (the most dangerous kind, ones in public office) — you probabaly don’t know what racism means because you’ve never taken Ethnic Studies classes.