[also sent to her directly, and to California State University East Bay]
dear Marianne Kearney-Brown,
I know a letter of support is no substitute for having your job back, but here's one anyway. Cal State's action was morally, intellectually, and (I'm pretty sure) legally ridiculous. I hope the publicity around this will lead to changes in their management (not to mention whoever is giving them such bad legal advice); at the very least, it should make people think a little more about their relationship to their jobs and their state.
I signed one of those things too, as a nurse for the S.F. Department of Public Health. Even though I'm not one now, I took being a public employee very seriously: we're working for our neighbors, and the government only exists because we've agreed to some ground rules. So I had no problem with promising to support the Constitution (something I wish our elected officials would do, too), and the document didn't seem like a commitment to do anything I shouldn't. Probably.
As a Quaker, I did have the same concerns that you did, but I didn't mark up my own copy or complain in any other way. I'm timid about these things -- too timid a lot of the time, so most people have no idea what I believe in. I didn't feel like I was breaking faith, because I never thought anyone could seriously construe "support" as anything other than "nonviolently support"; I thought the phrase "swear or affirm" made it redundant to cross out the "swear"; I rationalized that "allegiance" means being an ally, rather than being blindly obedient; and I cringed at the thought of trying to argue with a misinformed official over something with no real consequence. I certainly didn't imagine I could be fired... but now I think that makes it worse. If the thought of just having an annoying argument keeps me from being clear on where I stand, even when I think no other harm will come from it either way, then how much resolve will I really have when the stakes are higher? Thank you for reminding me of this.
The writer Tim O'Brien says that as a young man, he avoided situations that might call for a little bit of courage, on the theory that he could save up the courage and use it in an emergency. He found that it didn't work. Still that theory remains popular.
Anyway, I wish you the best in everything you're doing. Please stop by our Meeting if you're in San Francisco.