When faced with a conflict between Muslims and the disabled, what’s a poor liberal to do?
A St. Cloud State University student in a teacher-training program at Technical High School left the school in late April because he says he feared for the safety of his service dog. . .
Hurd said a student threatened to kill his service dog named Emmitt. The black lab is trained to protect Hurd when he has seizures. The seizures, which can occur weekly, are from a childhood injury. The dog has a pouch on his side that assists those who stop to help Hurd. . .
The threat came from a Somali student who is Muslim, according to Hurd, St. Cloud State and school district officials. The Muslim faith, which is the dominant faith of Somali immigrants, forbids the touching of dogs.
Hurd trained at Talahi Community School and Tech. He said his experience at Talahi was good. The Somali students there warmed to the dog and eventually petted him using paper to keep their hands off his fur, Hurd said. Things didn’t go as well at Tech, Hurd said. Students there taunted his dog, and he finally felt he had to leave after he was told a student made a threat. . .
Steffens said it is important to respect different cultures and the rights of disabled students. “I think this is part of the growth process when we become more diverse,” Steffens said.
(Via the Corner.)
What do we do when those “different cultures” and the rights of the disabled are in direct conflict? I’ll give you a hint: they didn’t expel the student who made the threat. (The school district decided that the incident was a “misunderstanding.”) Instead, they waived Hurd’s remaining 10 hours of training.
Internet Scofflaw 