Doug:
I understand that he is not asking for the money to take with him. The
CO analogy does not work because the CO asks not to have to do something
but does not ask the gov. to hold resources for him. Nor does the CO
ask for a benefit from the government that is available to others who
act as the gov. wants. Here the student seeks a benefit that no one
else claims, rather than to be released from an obligation that would
harm his faith. Here the student asks for the right to have resources
held for him while he does something he chooses to do. That is why the
CO analogy does not work
I wonder if there was also something sort-of fraudulent about applying
for the scholarship if he knew all along he was going to want to take a
leave from it. If you know you are not going to take it, why apply? My
problem is that if the scholarship allows you to defer for whatever
reason -- some schools do that -- the of course he gets it and gets the
right to defer. But this it not how the state program works. He is
asking that he defer when others cannot because he chooses to go on his
mission; if he knew in advance that he was planning to go on his mission
then he should have applied for the scholarship AFTER he came back from
his mission. Otherwise, the state must tie up scholarship money for him
and not use it for other students who are ready to take it now.
If the scholarship is only available for the year after you graduate
from college, then perhaps there is a claim that this is unfair to
Mormons who cannot take the scholarship and do their mission. On the
other hand, and here I need some factual background: 1) is there an
absolute obligation that he do the mission, or is it purely voluntary;
2) must he do it at age 18 or 19? Or can he do his mission after
college?
If it is voluntary, or can be done at any age, then I don't see why the
state should tie up scholarship money for someone who chooses to do
something other than take the scholarship or do government service --
the military -- or public service.
Suppose, for example, a student wants to eventually be a translator and
says, I want you to hold my scholarship while I travel around France for
a year to improve my French. Or to put it in a religious context, the
student wants to some day go into the ministry and asks for an exemption
so he can go to Israel learn Hebrew before going to college and then on
to divinity or rabbinical school. The possibilities of exemptions seem
endless -- all worthy -- some tied to religion, others not. But they
would all require that state funds be reserved and held for future
scholarship; that the state spend significant resources granting and not
granting exemptions.
It seems to me that life is a series of choices. We all make them. It
is also about limited resources. I would have loved to take a year off
between high school and college. But, I would probably have lost my
scholarship. Life is about choices.
If I am missing something there in the facts, let me know.
Paul
Paul Finkelman
President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
and Public Policy
Albany Law School
80 New Scotland Avenue
Albany, New York 12208-3494
518-445-3386
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 09/03/07 2:31 PM >>>
Paul, I think we have different understandings of the facts. He
doesn't want to be paid the cash value of his scholarship while he
goes on his mission; that claim would be absurd. He doesn't want to
qualify for the scholarship on his return because of, or on account
of, his having served a mission. He wants to claim a scholarship for
which he has already qualified on neutral and secular grounds, and
defer the use of that scholarship so that he does not lose it because
he went on his mission after the scholarship was awarded.
Quoting Paul Finkelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> But this does not really work. CO status prevents the gov. from
forcing
> you to violate your faith; holding a scholarship to exercise your
faith
> or your voluntary support for your faith is different. CO status
also
> required alternative service. The analogy here would be that you
have
> CO status, but have no obligation to serve (in say a hospital) AND
on
> top of that, you get GI Bill benefits. This issue is giving a
benefit
> (scholarship) to someone who otherwise is not qualified because he
> voluntarily dropped out of school to do something else.
>
> Paul Finkelman
> President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
> and Public Policy
> Albany Law School
> 80 New Scotland Avenue
> Albany, New York 12208-3494
>
> 518-445-3386
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 08/30/07 2:14 PM >>>
> Isn't this analogous to the conscientious objector cases where
sincere
> commitment should determine the exemption? David
>
>> Subject: RE: "Mormon Student, Justice, ACLU Join Up"> Date: Thu,
30
> Aug 2007 10:49:38 -0700> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To:
> religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu> > A quick question: Say the Mormon
student
> wins, on a Sherbert-like> rationale. Another student wants a
similar
> exemption on the grounds> that he feels a religious motivation to
take
> two years off to meditate,> or to make money to help support his
family,
> or to fulfill what he sees> as God's command to step back from
formal
> education and take time to> find the meaning of life. Assume that
the
> student's religious> motivation for this is found to be sincere. >
> I
> take it that he'd have to be treated the same as the Mormon,>
right? I'm
> not saying that this is a particularly horrible result, but> I just
> wanted to explore what the result would end up being.> > Eugene>
> _______________________________________________> To post, send
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Douglas Laycock
Yale Kamisar Collegiate Professor of Law
University of Michigan Law School
625 S. State St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1215
734-647-9713
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