Al Franken and the definition of harassment

Posted at 1:33 PM on May 20, 2010 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Sen. Al Franken introduced a bill today designed to protect gay and lesbian students from bullying at school.

There was a moment in his conversation with MPR's Cathy Wurzer this morning that caught some attention.

After Franken described the case of Alex Merritt, the Anoka-Hennepin student who was allegedly bullied by two teachers, Wurzer asked Franken to define what constitutes harrassment.

"I think that harassment and bullying is one of these things where you know when you see it," the senator replied. And that might be true, but the law usually requires a definition.

So Wurzer asked how it's defined in Franken's bill.

"I don't believe we have language in it to define bullying, but maybe I do. I'm not sure about that aspect of the bill."

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Comments (4)

That's what I call a "cringe moment"... and good for Wurzer for not bailing him out, although she probably should have nailed him for it. He should know better!

Posted by Bonnie | May 20, 2010 3:57 PM

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I would expect Senator Franken to know what's in a bill he's introducing, or at the very least to have a copy in front of him when he sits down for an interview about it. This is pretty embarrassing.

I'm having trouble finding the Senate version of the bill, but in the House text there is a definition (source http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.4530.IH:):

(3) HARASSMENT- The term `harassment' means conduct that is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive to limit a student's ability to participate in or benefit from a public school education program or activity, or to create a hostile or abusive educational environment at a public school, including acts of verbal, nonverbal, or physical aggression, intimidation, or hostility, if such conduct is based on--

(A) a student's actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity; or

(B) the actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity of a person or persons with whom a student associates or has associated.

Posted by Jon S | May 20, 2010 10:34 PM

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Not able to recall details about a bill you are sponsoring? For shame. Makes it look like he attached his name to a headline for political reasons rather than truly caring about the issue.

Why is this law so specific as to protect only from sexuality related bullying? Shouldn't racial, socio-economic, physical appearance and other bullying also be prohibited?

Posted by kennedy | May 21, 2010 11:06 AM

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Kennedy, Franken was not just sponsoring the bill, he was authoring it. It's even worse when the 'author' doesn't know what the bill says. So who really wrote it? I'm in favor of protecting GLBT students from bullying, but this interview reminded me of why I chose to vote third party instead of Democrat in the last senate election.

Posted by Alison | May 21, 2010 11:41 AM

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