PRD - Melzer

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An Editorial in The New York Times (10/9/93) It is easy to understand why parents would be upset to have Peter Melzer teaching their children. Mr. Melzer, a physics teacher at the Bronx High School of Science, is also a leader of the North American Man-Boy Love Association. Issues of the group's newsletter, with Mr. Melzer's name on the masthead as officer or editor, have included how-to articles on seducing young boys. It sounds like any parent's nightmare: a teacher with easy access to youths, who openly espouses sex with youths. But there is a big problem with current efforts to remove Mr. Melzer. There is no evidence whatever that he poses any danger, sexual or otherwise, to his students. The case against him rests entirely of views expressed in writing, mostly by others, and on what he may or may not have done years ago in a foreign country. Thus moves by the New York City Board of Education to dismiss him for these articles raise troubling issues of free speech and civil rights. No one alleges that Mr. Melzer has done anything wrong in his 31 years as a classroom teacher. Nor has he been charged with any violations of law. Indeed, school officials have known about his membership in the Man-Boy Association since the mid-1980's but took no steps to remove him until a televised report in March stimulated parent opposition. But New York City school officials have now moved to dismiss him on the grounds that the views he associates himself with in private life interfere with the proper functioning of a school system. For the past month Mr. Melzer has been assigned to a desk job. But lawyers for the teachers' union argue that, in the case of a tenured teacher like Mr. Melzer, such reassignment can only be temporary unless formal charges are brought. A disciplinary panel will now hear the case. There's no denying that dismissing Mr. Melzer for articles other people wrote in the Man-Boy newsletter would constitute a form of governmental punishment of legally protected speech. But even so, dismissal might withstand constitutional scrutiny. The courts do not treat the First Amendment as an absolute license, and recent decisions have begun to chart out an explicit exception based on proper functioning of governmental institutions. The idea of returning Mr. Melzer to the classroom troubles us. But the idea of dismissing a tenured teacher with an apparently sound record because of views expressed outside the classroom troubles us more. Without evidence of illegal acts or classroom misconduct there's no clear way to distinguish Mr. Melzer's case from others involving politically unpopular views or unconventional life styles. Would exemplary teachers who happen to be homosexual, or who espouse anarchist views outside the classroom, be next? Mr. Melzer's views are as repugnant to us as to many parents. But three decades of teaching without complaint and an expressed willingness to follow societal norms in his role as a teacher provide no basis for denying Mr. Melzer his civil rights. ---------- Roy Radow roy@panix.com ...rutgers!cmcl2!panix!roy North American Man/Boy Love Association -For a packet containing a sample Bulletin, publications list and membership information send $1.00 postage to: NAMBLA Info, Dept.RR, PO Box 174, Midtown Station, NYC NY 10018.