Mari Oliver, a young woman who said she was forced to recite the pledge of allegiance as a high school student in Texas, has been awarded $90,000 after winning her lawsuit, The Washington Post reports. Oliver’s lawyers announced the result of the complaint on Tuesday, saying they fought the case for four years and finally settled with the teacher who forced the student to recite the pledge.
The controversial incident took place during Oliver’s senior year. According to the complaint, sociology teacher Benjie Arnold told his class that they would get a zero if they didn’t write the pledge of allegiance. Arnold allegedly insulted people who preferred not to recite the pledge, comparing them to “Soviet communists, members of the Islamic faith seeking to impose Sharia law, and those who condone pedophilia.”
Refusing to write or recite the pledge, Oliver drew a “squiggly line” and turned in the assignment. While Oliver said the teacher gave her a zero for the assignment, Arnold disputed the allegation.
1.
The student’s mother followed up with a complaint in 2017, suing Arnold, the Klein Independent School District and several other teachers at Klein Oak High School. The educators, according to the suit, engaged in a years-long campaign to violate the First Amendment rights of Oliver, who had refused to recite the pledge of allegiance throughout high school.
After taking over the case as an adult, Oliver said school and district officials failed to stop the harassment she faced. However, a federal judge made a decision in 2020, dismissing the lawsuit against the district and all school officials except Arnold.
American Atheists, a civil rights organization that represented Oliver, said it has now reached “a successful settlement on behalf of a nonreligious student who was harassed, disciplined, and retaliated against for sitting out the Pledge of Allegiance.”
2.
The Texas Association of School Boards, a risk pool funded by Texas school districts, has agreed to pay $90,000 on Arnold’s behalf, the lawyers stated.
“Nonreligious students often face bullying or harassment for expressing their deeply held convictions,” Nick Fish, president of American Atheists, said in a statement, according to The Washington Post. “No one should have to endure the years of harassment, disrespect, and bullying our client faced. The fact that this happened in a public school and at the hands of staff who should know better is particularly appalling.”
In her complaint, Oliver said she “respectfully sat” during the pledge of allegiance hundreds of times, objecting to saying the words “under God.” The plaintiff also said she “believes many people, especially African Americans do not receive liberty and justice” in the United States.
“I sit because I don’t believe that we live in a country where there’s justice and freedom for all,” Oliver told BBC News in 2017.
The former Klein Oak High School student said her mom eventually put her in home school because she was being constantly bullied for choosing not to recite the pledge. A district attorney later held a meeting with high-ranking school officials from the Klein Independent School District and said students are allowed to abstain from reciting the pledge.