School board’s ban on rentals is an empty option.
The Board of Education plans to fix a problem that doesn’t exist.
The district is considering a change to its policy on the use of school facilities that would ban groups identified as terrorist organizations by the federal Department of State or the federal Department of Homeland Security from renting district buildings.
The policy change would seem logical. After all, no one wants al Qaeda renting the high school gym for a rally.
But, then, al Qaeda probably wasn’t going to rent the gym nor were Hezbollah, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or the Irish Republican Army.
So why make the change? Board members said they were responding to concerns from community members that one of the district’s buildings had been rented to a terrorist group for an event and that it was important to periodically revisit the rental policy.
If that’s the case, however, the board took its time before putting the policy review on the table. The event in question took place in early December.
That’s when a group called the South Asian Community Association which has several members who live in South Brunswick rented Crossroads North Middle School for a "Heroes Day" celebration, which celebrates Tamil culture. The event’s guest speaker was Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, a legal adviser to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a group designated by the U.S. Department of State as a terrorist organization.
The Tamil Tigers, as they are known, have been fighting a civil war with the Sri Lankan government since 1983 and, according to the State Department’s "Country Reports on Terrorism 2005," have engaged in targeted assassinations, car-bombings and other terrorist activities.
The South Asian Community Association is not a designated terrorist group its members say its goals are to foster Tamil culture and lobby on behalf of Tamil independence so it would not be affected by the proposed policy change.
Nor would a host of groups who work on behalf of Palestine, Kashmir or Northern Ireland groups that some believe are front groups for terrorists, but that others view as political advocates be banned.
Nor should they. Political advocacy is the well-spring of our democracy, codified in the First Amendment in both the speech and assembly clauses as the courts have repeatedly said.
Board attorney David Carroll said as much on Monday when he told the board that it was limited in the restrictions it can place on its use policy. The board, he said, had two options: Ban all groups not affiliated with the district or ban only those designated by the federal government as terrorist organizations.
A complete ban, of course, would violate the notion that schools are community resources. In recent years, school buildings and fields have been used by the township Women’s Conference, the South Brunswick Athletic Association and South Brunswick Police Athletic League, the area Rotary Club, several new church groups and a host of other local groups.
In addition, building rentals are an important source of revenue, one of the few non-tax revenues available to the district.
That leaves a limited ban as the board’s only option.
So, by all means, ban terror groups from renting school facilities. Just don’t pretend it is anything more than an empty gesture.

