In April 2012, EIU Society for Freethought was able to host Aron Ra thanks to the Speakers Bureau from the national SSA. This article summarizes the experiences of that event for the group.

Our club, the Eastern Illinois University Society for Free Thought, is brand new. I started it in January with five members, and five people willing to put their name on the list so I could apply for official school recognition. By the end of the semester, we counted over 30, and had created a strong presence at the university, the climax of which was our “Ask an Atheist Day” and speech by AronRa.

In March 2012, Secular Students at Collin College were able to attend the Reason Rally in Washington D.C. thanks to a Project Grant from the national SSA. This article summarizes the experiences of that event for the group.

With the help from Metroplex Atheists and the Secular Student Alliance, Secular Students at Collin College was able to take nine of our members to the Reason Rally in Washington, DC.  Although we had to scramble to arrange transportation as the Rally Bus was canceled only a week before, we teamed up with local off-campus organizations to rent vans and make the trip.  We took two passenger vans and split our members between them.

Several weeks ago, we received a letter from a high school teacher where secular students were trying to form an official club.  The teacher disagreed with our organization's mission and expressed prejudices toward secular students, going so far as to call them “deviants” who did not deserve protection.  For someone who works with students to express such views was extremely worrying, so we reached out to the school.  We wanted to make sure that the secular students would be allowed to form a SSA club and be treated with the rights and respect they deserve.

We brought the situation to the school’s attention and explained why it was unacceptable.  Pointing to the law, the moral landscape, and the bullying that secular students often face, we made it clear that discrimination against nontheistic students in school cannot be tolerated.

They agreed.  The teacher backtracked and pledged never to discriminate against students for any reason.  The administrators reaffirmed their commitment to diversity and the rights of all students to form clubs.  They spoke with the teacher to ensure his understanding of the law and to emphasize the consequences should any evidence surface that he's not obeying it. They made it clear that his personal views would not interfere with how he treats students and that he needs to make sure every student does feel welcome in his classroom.