Phoenix College instructor quits over loyalty oath

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Most people have no idea that Arizona has a loyalty oath.

James Sallis didn't know.

Author James Sallis quit his job as a creative writing instructor at Phoenix College after being asked to sign a loyalty oath

Under Arizona law, every public employee at the state, county or local level -- that's tens of thousands of people -- must sign a loyalty oath to the state and the country. If they don't, they could be fired.

Sallis refused and then quit last week as an adjunct professor at Phoenix College in the middle of the semester.

His students were outraged.

"We signed up for that class for Jim Sallis," said Patricia Rudnyk, who, like many aspiring novelists, has taken Sallis' creative writing class off and on for several years. "I don't think he can be replaced."

Sallis wasn't just another instructor among the hundreds at the school.

He is an author with an international reputation as a crime novelist and poet. He taught creative writing at the school for 14 years, nurturing several prominent Arizona authors.

Robert Rosenwald, president of Poisoned Pen Press, published Sallis' best known novel -- "Drive" -- which was later made into a movie. Rosenwald says he believes Sallis is on a short list of authors in line for a Pulitzer Prize some day.

"He's in that very, very rarefied atmosphere. He's a writer's writer," Rosenwald said.

But there's one thing Sallis wouldn't write -- his own name at the bottom of the loyalty oath required of all public employees in Arizona.

"I never imagined that things like this were still around. It horrified me," Sallis said in an interview Monday.

Sallis said his department director told him the college was updating its files.

A college spokeswoman tells 12 News that 800 adjunct faculty members were asked to sign the loyalty oath, as the college updates its files ahead of an accreditation renewal next year.

"I believe the oath is a violation of my privacy and my civil rights," Sallis said. "In fact, this loyalty oath is asking me to violate the very constitution it says I'm defending."

others can be coerced to sign the oath.

"Amazingly enough, yes, they can make him sign that oath," Barr said.

The oath, he said, has been around in some form since before statehood. It lost a Supreme Court challenge in the 1960's because it barred membership in the Communist Party. The law was rewritten in 2003.

Legality aside, Barr questions the purpose of a law the compels loyalty from a novelist or a janitor.

"When you have everybody employed by the state, including janitors and all sorts of people, taking the oath, it doesn't seem to make much sense," he said.

Phoenix College's interim president, Chris Haines, told Sallis' students in an email that if they didn't like the law they should contact their state legislator or Secretary of State Michele Reagan.

"We must abide by the law," Haines said.

http://www.12news.com/story/news/local/valley/2015/09/29/phoenix-college-instructor-quits-over-arizona-loyalty-oath/73010254/

[TBoneTX 45,266]

Ten posts have been removed for baiting and response, and one member thread-banned. One post has been edited and is returned to the thread, as follows:

I just find it ironic that the concept of a mandatory loyalty oath owes more to communism than a country that supposedly celebrates freedom and liberty.

Edited October 1, 2015 by TBoneTX

[TBoneTX 45,266]

Post removed from thread and returned, minus quote of previously removed material:

Really? I've been gone so long you're arguing with one the straight shooters? She pretty much says what she thinks, if not, she's being coy. Nothing to get up in arms about.

This place is losing it's luster, don't divide those who you already know are on your side.

That it all.

Post removed from and returned to thread, to keep in logical order:

There are no sides Marvin.
I'm certainly not about to start accepting responsibility for the behaviour of others.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

My point was, it looked like she was just being funny. That's what I got from the exchange before it was removed.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

My point was, it looked like she was just being funny. That's what I got from the exchange before it was removed.

s

It was an attempt to troll me for an emotional reaction across this thread and at least two others.

[Sousuke 1,214]

I missed all the fun it seems....

The oath seems outdated, but I would have just signed the thing...

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

s

It was an attempt to troll me for an emotional reaction across this thread and at least two others.

Have to read up on this.

[TBoneTX 45,266]

Folks, feel free to Report excesses. The walls have ears but can't hear absolutely everything all the time...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I missed all the fun it seems....

The oath seems outdated, but I would have just signed the thing...

A lot of people would have. I guess it being compulsory gets some people's backs up. They probably need to scrap that law.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Why not just change the name of the state to Democratic People's Republic of Arizona and be done with it?

Under Arizona law, every public employee at the state, county or local level -- that's tens of thousands of people -- must sign a loyalty oath to the state and the country. If they don't, they could be fired.

Edited October 1, 2015 by JohnR!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Why not just change the name of the state to Democratic People's Republic of Arizona and be done with it?

That's the impression I got.