Shall We Sing - Shall We Sing Religious Music in Public Schools

Abstract

INTRODUCTION|The tension-filled atmosphere surrounding the West High graduation ceremony held on June 7, 1995, dominated the traditional euphoria accompanying the normal rites of passage associated with high school graduations. After all, how many graduation ceremonies receive the attention of a nationally publicized injunction issued the day before by a United States Circuit Court of Appeals? Rachel Bauchman, a Jewish sophomore student and a member of the West High A'Cappella Choir, at 3:30 p.m. on June 6, 1995, had obtained an order from a panel of the Tenth Circuit United States Court of Appeals temporarily enjoining on establishment grounds the choir from singing the two traditional songs they had prepared for graduation: "Friends" and "The Lord Bless You and Keep You." The media received notice of the injunction almost immediately and within hours the injunction received publicity through radio, television and newspaper reports. The Salt Lake City School Board met hastily and determined that it would be unlikely that any review of the panel decision could be heard before the graduation ceremony scheduled for the next day. The District Superintendent, Darline Robles, notified the school's principal, William Boston, who in turn notified the choir director, Richard Torgerson, of the temporary injunction. In the spirit of the injunction, Torgerson not only substituted nonreligious songs for the two songs that were the subject of the injunction, but also substituted a secular song for a religious song that was not included in the injunction, but the West High Chorale, a subgroup of the a'cappella choir of which Ms. Bauchman was not a member, had planned on singing...