In addition to his regular duties this summer, Staff Attorney Ryan Tack-Hooper taught a course on legal writing and reasoning to international students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. The class focused on getting students to write and speak clearly and plainly. As George Orwell (author of the classic anti-totalitarian novels “Animal Farm” and “1984”) wrote, bad writing is “designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” The class presented an opportunity to tell students about CAIR’s work and to “bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end.”
Our legal department is working to bring a just resolution to several cases involving a failure to accommodate religious practices, including a medical student forced to shave his beard, a security guard forced to remove her hijab, and a prisoner forced to break his Ramadan fast. Everyone in the CAIR community should know that you have the right to reasonable accommodation of your religious practices in your employment, education, and dealings with the government. The more people who stand up for their freedom, the better it is protected for everyone.
