Federal court dismisses ATAA’s case against Massachusetts education authorities

Armenian Genocide curriculum withstands denialist challenge

by Lou Ann Matossian

Published: Wednesday June 10, 2009

U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf. .

Boston - Closing the covers of a textbook case on Armenian Genocide denial, U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf  on June 10 dismissed the Assembly of Turkish American Associations' complaint that a Massachusetts education official had unlawfully removed "contra-genocide" references from the state's Armenian Genocide curriculum "for political reasons."

Without commenting on the historical facts of the Genocide or the ATAA's contention that a legitimate controversy exists regarding the events of 1915, the court ruled that the state's public school curriculum was a form of "government speech" and therefore not generally subject to First Amendment scrutiny.

"There is no requirement that such government speech be balanced or viewpoint neutral," wrote Judge Wolf, adding that "public officials are generally entitled to change their minds about what is recommended or required to be taught in public school classrooms." Such decisions "must be made by state and local school boards and not federal judges."

Moreover, in regard to the circumstances of this case, the U.S. District Court ruled that "plaintiffs do not have a right to receive contra-genocide information in the classroom."

Armenian Genocide is part of advisory curriculum

In 1998, the Massachusetts Legislature had directed the state Board of Education to prepare and distribute to all school districts an advisory curriculum guide on genocide and human rights. As originally issued on January 15, 1999, the draft guide included a section on the Armenian Genocide.

But in March of that year, at the urging of the Turkish American Cultural Society of New England, Commissioner of Education David Driscoll added references to several so-called "contra-genocide" Web sites, prompting counterprotests from the Armenian community and its supporters.

To the displeasure of the ATAA and other Turkish groups, Commissioner Driscoll later removed the denialist references, saying that they were inconsistent with the Legislature's direction to include materials concerning the "Armenian genocide" as such. He recommended that the Turkish community pursue its concerns through "legislative channels."

"Since the legislative intent of the statute was to address the Armenian genocide and not to debate whether or not this occurred, the Board and Department of Education cannot knowingly include resources that call this into question," Mr. Driscoll and Board of Education chairperson James Peyser replied to a complaint from an ATAA board member. "The explicitness of the statute has also forced us to reverse our earlier decision to include the website listing for the Turkish Embassy." The embassy's site explicitly denies the Armenian Genocide.

Six years later, in a letter to the plaintiffs' attorneys, Mr. Peyser reiterated that the Board of Education had not been authorized to adopt curriculum guidelines "that call into question whether the atrocities enumerated in the statute actually occurred."

The resulting lawsuit, Griswold et al. v. Driscoll et al. (2005) pitted the ATAA against the Massachusetts Board of Education and Department of Education.

"Politics is the essence of democracy"

The plaintiffs had argued that once the "contra-genocide" materials had been added to the curriculum, it was unlawful to remove them solely in response to "political pressure" from the Armenian community.

Judge Wolf disagreed. "Politics is not a pejorative term in our nation," he wrote. "Properly understood, politics is the essence of democracy. It is the way that a free and vigorous people make and then change public policy."

"The facts of this case," he added, "demonstrate that the plaintiffs and those who share their viewpoint concerning Armenians in the Ottoman Empire are fully capable of participating in the political process. It is in the political arena that they must seek the relief to which they are not entitled in federal court."

Armenian groups praised the ruling.

"Judge Wolf correctly pointed out that this remains purely a political issue. Implicitly, the facts are not in doubt," declared USAPAC executive director Ross Vartian. "And in the political arena in Washington, the ATAA is irrelevant."

"Today's judgment sends a clear message that the federal court system cannot be abused by genocide deniers to spread their lies across America's classroom," Armenian National Committee of Massachusetts chairperson Shari Ardhaldjian stated.  "We welcome this decision and the powerful precedent it sets for the future of genocide education here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and throughout the nation."

Thanking the office of the Attorney General of Massachusetts, Armenian Assembly executive director Bryan Ardouny noted, "Today's decision is in keeping with a growing trend toward teaching genocide prevention with nearly every state, including Massachusetts, formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide."

"This is a victory in the struggle to promote education of the Armenian Genocide and understanding of its important position in the history of the scourge of modern genocide," read a statement from the Zoryan Institute. "Those who engage in its denial have vast resources and use pseudo-scholarship, legal technicalities and confusion to persuade those who are not well acquainted with the facts that there was no Armenian Genocide. Denial of the Armenian Genocide interferes with our ability to apply the lessons of history to the prevention of other genocides, and thus harms not only Armenians, but everyone."