Foot in Her Mouth?

By Shawn Healy

Foothill High School administrators incited a national uproar when they prematurely ended valedictorian Brittany McComb's graduation speech last June. Her case is one of 24 religious liberty controversies that we highlight in our current exhibit at the Freedom Museum, "Your Faith, My Freedom." It also invited the attention of Chicago Tribune reporter Josh Noel, who quoted me in his article last Friday.

Noel wrote:
In the McComb case, he (Shawn Healy) said, he aimed to present the facts as objectively as possible, in part because he is unsure how he feels about the school's decision.

"If she wants to say the person she admires is Jesus Christ and I want to say that the person I admire is Mayor Daley, I'm not sure there is that much of a difference," he said. "But there's a difference between saying Jesus is important to me and Jesus should be important to you. It's a fine line, and if she didn't cross it, she came very close."

My good friend from high school and college also weighed in, drawing a parallel between McComb's actions and those of our friend Getch, the class clown who was chosen by his peers to deliver the commencement address.
Let me weigh in real quick on the graduation speech. She (the speaker) was told beforehand what could and couldn't be included in the speech, and for that reason I think the school had the right to act as they did. Once she strayed from the framework of what was agreed to before the speech, she openly disrespected the privilege she had been given.

A great example would be our graduation when Getch was picked to speak. A lot of students put a great deal of pressure on him to rebel and change his speech from what the school had agreed to, but Getch understood the privilege he had been given and acted accordingly. Also, in my opinion, a graduation speech is not a platform to be used selfishly to promote one's beliefs.

Although I failed to take as firm of a position as my friend, my mission to make visitors draw their own conclusions about the exhibit was accomplished. At the end of his message, my friend admitted, "Well obviously your example did its job and got me thinking a little."