JOACHIM J. SAVELSBERG
  • About
  • Research & Publications
    • Armenian Genocide between Denial and Acknowledgement >
      • Massachusetts Curriculum Case
      • Swiss Perincek Case and the ECHR
      • French Denial Legislation
    • Collective Representations and Memories of Mass Violence >
      • Darfur
      • American Memories
      • Crime and Human Rights
    • Punishment and Society >
      • Comparative Punishment Rates
      • Sentencing and Guidelines
      • Criminalizing White-Collar Offenses
    • Sociology of Criminology
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    • Current Classes
    • Other Courses
    • Advising Practices & History
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​In 1998, the state government of Massachusetts passed a piece of legislation that requires the state to write guidelines for a high school curriculum covering the topics of genocide and human rights (D. Mass. 2009, 55). The following year, the Massachusetts Department of Education, led by Commissioner David Driscoll, issued the first draft of the high school curriculum guidelines. As specified by the legislation itself, this draft included teaching guidelines on the following subjects: the Holocaust, the Irish potato famine, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the Armenian genocide. Four days after this draft was released, the Turkish American Cultural Society of New England, a component of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations, asked the Department of Education to include resources that challenged the existence of the Armenian genocide (Griswold v. Driscoll, 2009). In March 1999, a second draft of the curriculum guidelines, which included Turkish resources, was released (D. Mass. 2009, 56). However, shortly after, a group of Armenian descendants wrote a letter to Governor Paul Cellucci requesting that the pro-Turkish resources be taken off of the guide (56. Senator Steve Tolman, one of the 1998 bill’s sponsors, also wrote a letter of complaint to the Massachusetts Department of Education (Murphy 2005). Consequently, the Turkish resources were removed from the curriculum guide (D. Mass. 2009, 56). In August 1999, the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) and the Turkish American Cultural Society of New England sent letters of complaint to the Department of Education about the removal of these resources (D. Mass. 2009, 56-57). But Commissioner David Driscoll responded by saying that the guide was purely advisory and the Turkish community is free to advocate their viewpoint in the schools or through the legislative process (D. Mass. 2009, 56-57). Six years later, in 2005, a lawsuit was filed by a group of Massachusetts teachers, students, and the Assembly of Turkish American Associations.  The lawsuit was rejected in June 2009 by the Massachusetts district court (D. Mass. 2009). Following the decision, the plaintiffs filed an appeal, and in August 2010 the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the original ruling (1st Cir. 2010).  The case came to an end when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in January 2011. A detailed analysis and be found in Chapter 8 of Knowing about Genocide: Armenian Suffering and Epistemic Struggles.
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  • About
  • Research & Publications
    • Armenian Genocide between Denial and Acknowledgement >
      • Massachusetts Curriculum Case
      • Swiss Perincek Case and the ECHR
      • French Denial Legislation
    • Collective Representations and Memories of Mass Violence >
      • Darfur
      • American Memories
      • Crime and Human Rights
    • Punishment and Society >
      • Comparative Punishment Rates
      • Sentencing and Guidelines
      • Criminalizing White-Collar Offenses
    • Sociology of Criminology
    • Other Activities
  • Teaching & Advising
    • Current Classes
    • Other Courses
    • Advising Practices & History
  • Grants & Honors
    • Scholarly Associations
    • Scholarly Journals
    • Fellowships & Visiting Professorships
  • CV
  • Contact