Group asks ASU to reinstate cross

A Texas nonprofit organization sent a "demand letter" to Arkansas State University on Monday asking ASU to reverse its decision to remove cross symbols on helmet decals memorializing two deceased members of the ASU football program.

ASU has turned the letter over to the office of Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel.

Liberty Institute, based in Plano, Texas, said it is representing an ASU football player who asked to remain anonymous as he sought an opportunity to put the decal back on his helmet.

The decals were designed by a group of players and coaches before the season to memorialize former player Markel Owens, who died in January of a gunshot wound in his hometown of Jackson, Tenn., and Barry Weyer, a former team manager who died in June in a car accident.

The white decals were in the shape of a Christian cross with the initials "MO" on the left side and "BW" on the right. They appeared on the back of ASU's helmets in a victory over Montana State and a loss at Tennessee.

ASU altered the decals last Wednesday, removing the top and bottom portion of the vertical section of the cross. Players wore helmet decals that included a horizontal line and the initials of Owens and Weyer during Saturday's 41-20 loss to Miami.

Athletic Director Terry Mohajir expressed support last week for "coaches' and players' expression of faith, as well as their choice to honor the two individuals," but complaints were made that the decal violated federal separation of church and state laws.

Liberty claims that the decal does not violate the law, but that altering it is "illegal viewpoint discrimination against the students' free speech" and that the decals are "student's speech; it is not the speech of the university. ASU now has a choice to abide by the Constitutional mandate that it accommodate the students' religious expression and cease its censorship of their protected free speech."

Liberty's letter, signed by director of litigation Hiram Sasser, requests that ASU "cease censoring and publicly acknowledge, in writing, the right of its students to engage in private speech," by Wednesday.

ASU spokesman Jeff Hankins released a short statement Monday acknowledging that it had received Liberty's letter and that the matter has been turned over to McDaniel's office and declined further comment. Mohajir also declined comment.

"Any further comment or action related to this issue will be handled by the Attorney General's office," Hankins said in a statement.

Aaron Sadler, spokesman for McDaniel, said in an email that "we are reviewing the letter and will consult with our client."

ASU altered the stickers last Wednesday after Louis Nisenbaum, a Jonesboro attorney, emailed a complaint to University counsel Lucinda McDaniel during ASU's Sept. 6 loss at Tennessee, which was televised on the SEC Network.

Lucinda McDaniel told Mohajir in an email that "persons viewing the helmets will, and have, seen the symbol as a cross and interpreted that symbol as an endorsement of the Christian religion. This violates the legal prohibition of endorsing religion."

ASU received a letter last Wednesday from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, praising it for altering the decals.

Then came the challenge from Liberty Institute.

"The players put themselves through a physical, emotional and mental ground throughout the year to stand up and represent everything that is good about Arkansas State University, its fans, its alumni and the surrounding community," Sasser said in a statement. "Now we will find out if Arkansas State University will stand up for them and the Constitution of the United States."

Sports on 09/16/2014

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