Arapahoe High School prepares its students for Yale — and Iran

Yale University’s coat of arms contains a Hebrew motto. It dates back to the 1700s, when Protestant clergymen were expected to include Hebrew among their studies. The Hebrew motto translates roughly as “light and truth” or “light and perfection,” which also appears in the Latin version as “Lux et Veritas.” Thinkstock by Getty Images

Most agree that Representative Democracy is a good thing, and that people should elect their representatives. But in Arapahoe High School, Yale, and Iran democracy can only be taken in small doses. For them, elections, debates, and democracy must first receive permission from above. It’s effectively a veto, by wise and far-seeing authorities. Let us take Iran’s lead, and call it the Mullah Veto.

Like elsewhere, Arapahoe High School has an elected student council, including class president. To no surprise, candidates have to fill out an application, be interviewed, and have a teacher sponsor. And there are rules about campaigning. But wait . . . the election doesn’t even matter! The school doesn’t publish election results and teachers who sponsor student council can disregard the election results if they feel the winners don’t represent “the best interest” of the council.

So thanks for campaigning and coming up with new ideas. Here’s a pat on the head, and we’ll tell you who we want.

Why have an election? Eighteen year-olds can vote for our governor and president, but at Arapahoe High, teachers choose the candidates and, if they want, overrule the election results. One of the student council’s jobs is to . . . increasing student participation! It’s good to know the teachers already have it figured out.

But perhaps we can excuse the high school. After all, it’s part school, part medium-security prison. What’s more, we should probably celebrate. The school prepares students for college,

and democracy with a Mullah Veto certainly is perfect preparation for Yale University.

It’s well known that at Yale, a professor wrote an email suggesting that students be allowed to wear the Halloween costume of their choice. This was a terrible thing to say, so students (and some administrators) publicly shouted down her husband (a school official and also an accomplished professor) for actually defending such outrageous free thinking. He resigned, and the administration showered $50 million in funds to various groups that demanded his resignation.

Less well known is that Yale alumni elect six out of 17 trustees, who govern the university. Because of the “Halloween Incident,” a student group asked several trustee candidates (hand-picked by the university administration) to state their views on campus free speech. “Nyet” said Yale! Trustees aren’t allowed to talk about campus issues, because they must take a long-term view of things. And we don’t want to scare any of them off.

The Mullahs at Arapahoe should feel better. After years of education at one of the world’s best universities, Yale graduates are just like Arapahoe students — too immature and too stupid to make good choices about governance.

But let’s cut Yale some slack, too. The university pointedly fashions itself as an international school, and nothing says “international” like Iran. So Yale merely emulates Iran’s so-called democracy. Sure, people can vote. But they can only vote for carefully vetted candidates who first ask themselves, “what would the Mullahs do?”

Unfortunately, Yale and Arapahoe

have adopted the Mullah Veto. Because who knows what would happen with wide-open democracy? Students might do some damn fool thing like vote for Bernie Sanders — or even Donald Trump! Or perhaps a repressive theocracy would come crumbling down. (I truly am referring to Iran. Not Yale or Arapahoe High School.)

The Mullah Veto doesn’t rig elections in the traditional, vote-counting sense. But it’s still very effective, because the Mullahs always get the outcome they want.

Representative democracy still remains one of the craziest, most radical ideas ever; the idea that common people — not just wise men or wise latinas (to quote Justice Sotomayor) — can be entrusted to make good choices. Too many of our institutions talk about democracy, elections, and free speech. But when it comes time to put it into practice — even on a very limited basis — they are afraid. Afraid of trusting people that they cannot control.

Back to Arapahoe High School. Would it really be so bad if students actually elected their student council representatives? Frankly, planning homecoming activities or increasing student participation are not exactly life-or-death decisions, so if the student council does a terrible job, let it serve as a good teaching moment. Imagine that — a high school that teaches its students real lessons about

democracy.

Scott Gessler is a Denver attorney and former Colorado secretary of state.