45 Minutes The Dual Enrollment Students Will Never Forget
Written by: Professor James Standish
Our US Government class, which is apart of our Dual Enrollment Program, was heading to Capitol Hill on Thursday, June 29th, and I did what I often do – check various sources for what was happening on the day. I saw the Supreme Court was meeting at 10 AM, so we left earlier than planned to see if we could witness some history. On the way, I silently prayed that God would let us get in this time. He had a better plan.
When we arrived, the Supreme Court was closed to visitors (despite the website saying it was open to the public). So, we weren’t allowed in. But then something amazing happened – the Court released a crucial religious liberty case that the Adventist Church has worked on for many years. It was decided 9-0 in support of religious freedom in the workplace. It wasn’t a complete win, but it dramatically improves the way courts analyze work placed religious freedom cases generally.
We were also there when the Court struck down race-based affirmative action in many circumstances. We were at the Supreme Court for only about 45 minutes, and all this history happened right then.
Our students, Dr. Banks, and myself were interviewed by many journalists from all the major newswires and several TV outlets – including Voice of America – and news stations from as far away as the Czech Republic! Stories with photos of our students in their bold WAU t-shirts were published in India. Dr. Banks was interviewed by many sources and ended up in USA Today.
We hoped to witness history – instead, we became part of history!
Note: Here are a list of published articles that referenced Washington Adventist University on Thursday, June 29th: