The team had been wearing the decals for two weeks without any complaints. That changed after last Saturday’s nationally televised game against the Tennessee Volunteers.

Jonesboro attorney Louis Nisenbaum sent McDaniel an email complaining about the cross decal.

“That is a clear violation of the Establishment Clause as a state endorsement of the Christian religion,” Nisenbaum wrote. “Please advise whether you agree and whether ASU will continue this practice.”

Ironically, the university’s legal counsel admitted in a letter that there were no specific court cases that addressed crosses on football helmets. Nevertheless, she feared the possibility of a lawsuit.

“It is my opinion that we will not prevail on that challenge and must remove the crosses from the helmets or alter the symbols so that they are a (plus sign) instead of a cross,” she wrote in an email to the athletic director.

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation fired off a letter congratulating the university on cleansing the helmets of the Christian symbol.

“The crosses appeared to confer State’s endorsement of religion, specifically Christianity,” the FFRF wrote. “The inclusion of the Latin cross on the helmets also excludes the 19 percent of the American population that is non-religious.”

FFRF co-presidents Annie Lauire Gaylor and Dan Barker went so far as to suggest alternative ways for the football players to mourn.

“Many teams around the country honor former teammates by putting that player’s number on their helmets or jerseys, or by wearing a black armband,” they wrote. “Either of those options, or another symbolic gesture free from religion imagery, would be appropriate.”

That suggestion set off the athletic director.

“I don’t even kinda-sorta care about any organization that tells our students how to grieve,” Mohajir told me. “Everybody grieves differently. I don’t think anybody has the right to tell our students how to memorialize their colleagues, their classmates or any loved ones they have.”

While Mr. Weyer told me he supports the university “100 percent”, he said he took great offense at the FFRF’s attack.

LINK

USA Today article on it, also

From the Washington Post

According to documents provided to USA TODAY Sports by Arkansas State, the inquiry did not initiate with FFRF but rather Jonesboro, Ark., attorney Louis Nisenbaum. He sent an e-mail to University Counsel Lucinda McDaniel on the afternoon Saturday, Sept. 6, pointing out that he noticed the crosses while watching Arkansas State's game at Tennessee earlier that day.

This douche bag lawyer has removed his social media pages and is catching 10 levels of hell there in Jonesboro. He'll probably be run out of town before the year is up. Probably end up in Fayetteville, Arkansas or Memphis.

It was Ole Miss and Clemson getting attacked first, now ASU is cowering down to them. Wish every University would just privatize and get out from under these fricking Gov't dollars and bullshite laws.

This post was edited on 9/12/14 at 11:05 am