Catholic League Denounces Cal State Dept. Head's Holiday Décor Ban
by Jim Brown
December 23, 2005
(AgapePress) - - The Catholic League is criticizing an administrator at California State University - Sacramento who informed her department that decorations for holidays such as Christmas and the Fourth of July are now banned from the office because they "represent discrimination" and "ethnic insensitivity." The Catholic League recently obtained the memo sent out by the school's Director of the Office of Services to Students With Disabilities, Patricia Sonntag. Sacramento State verified that the holiday decorating ban exists in Sonntag's department; however, the university called her memo "well intentioned, but misguided."
But Kiera McCaffrey, communication director for the Catholic League, feels Sonntag has a phony view of tolerance. "What's really cute is ... the end of her memo telling people that they better not have up any decorations -- you know, you can't have up that flag on the Fourth of July -- it says, 'I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but it's time to start the new year differently,'" McCaffrey says. "So she's acknowledging that people are going to be offended by this, while at the same time saying that this policy is being implemented in order to avoid offending people."
The Catholic League spokeswoman calls the ban on holiday decorations "just ridiculous all the way through." And, she points out, the memo informing Sonntag's staff of the policy change did not stop at one or two popular holiday observances, but declared that "in order to avoid offending others, they would not display any sort of decorations for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Valentines, the Fourth of July, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter."
Moreover, the traditional celebrations Sonntag has deemed off limits are "just off the top of the list, so there could be any number of other holidays included in this ban," McCaffrey adds. She notes that Sacramento State officials have acknowledged the administrator's ban, but have distanced themselves from its administrator's memo.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
