COURT RULES THAT A MAN CAN MARRY
HIS NIECE
driver. They have no children together.
On the matter of consanguinity or blood
relations, Marscalkowski argued during
court proceedings, that half-uncles and
nieces share the same level of genetic ties
as first cousins. This would only result to
only one-eighth of the DNA.
“It really was the equivalent of cousins
marrying, which has been allowed in
New York State for well over 100 years,”
Marszalkowski said.
NEW YORK - The New York Court
of Appeals has ruled that a man can
marry his half-sister’s daughter in a
landmark decision. According to the
ruling, while “parent-child and brothersister marriages…are grounded in the
almost universal horror with which
such marriages are viewed…there is no
comparably strong objection to uncle-niece
marriages.”
The case revolved around a 34 year
old Vietnamese citizen Huyen Nguyen,
34, who appealed to a ruling by an
immigration judge declaring that her
marriage in 2000 in Rochester was invalid.
This ruling would have resulted to her
deportation from the United States. Her
husband, Vu Truong, 38, was her mother’s
half-brother.
According to the couple’s lawyer, Michael
Marscalkowski, the case was not done for
immigration purposes. The couple has
stayed together for more than 14 years
and husband Vu Truong works as a truck
Michael Stutman from the firm Mischon
de Reya, an independent attorney and
family relations expert, said that the ruling
reflects the realities of contemporary
American families. Stutman commented
that “as people are more mobile and living
longer; marriages are ending and people
remarry and you get blended families with
step children and half children.”
Commenting on the rationale behind the
court decision, Stutman argues “There
are plenty of other societies that allow
so-called intermarriage without worrying
about genetic defects. And frankly we have
a long history of cousins marrying each
other, take FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt,”
he said.
However, Jason McGuire, executive
director of the conservative civil rights
group, New Yorkers for Constitutional
Freedoms, implied that this court’s
decision would create a dangerous legal
precedent. “If government’s only interest
in marriage is who loves each other, then
what logical stopping point is there?”
McGuire said.
Briefly
SAINT AUGUSTINE’S UNIVERSITY
APPOINTS TITLE IX COORDINATOR
RALEIGH, NC - Saint Augustine’s University Interim
President Everett B. Ward has appointed Breona M. Hayes
to serve as the University’s Title IX Coordinator effective
November 6. Some of Hayes’ responsibilities and roles will
include conducting, overseeing or coordinating training
for students and employees about Title IX; ensuring that
complaints, reports and investigations of sexual misconduct
are handled in accordance with the University’s policy;
overseeing the administration of campus policies designed
to prevent and remediate gender and sex discrimination,
sexual assault, stalking, bullying, intimate partner and
relationship violence; and overseeing athletics gender equity compliance. Hayes, who
has been an employee at Saint Augustine’s University since 2013, recently served
as the acting executive director for the Freshman Success Initiatives. A native of
Jacksonville, Fla., Hayes earned her bachelor’s degree in health science from Florida
A&M University, a Master’s of Art degree in school guidance counseling and a
Master’s of Art degree in mental health counseling from Webster University.
NCCU WELCOMES NEW VICE
CHANCELLOR OF STUDENT AFFAIRS
DURHAM, NC - North Carolina Central University has
named Arkansas Native, Dr. Miron P. Billingsley as Vice
Chancellor of Student Affairs. Billingsley began serving
on Sept. 15. Dr. Billingsley has more than 15 years of
experience in higher education as a professor, dean,
director and vice president. Prior to his appointment at
NCCU, he served as associate vice president for student
affairs at Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View,
Texas, a post he held since 2008. Prior to joining Prairie
View A&M, Dr. Billingsley served as Vice President for Student Affairs at Arkansas
Baptist College in Little Rock, Ark. He has also worked as an adjunct professor at
Texas Southern University in Houston, Director of Training and Development
for PeopleSoft at the University of Houston and Director of Public Relations and
Marketing at Langston University. In addition to his higher education experience, Dr.
Billingsley served four years in the U.S. Navy as a radio man on the USS Bunker
Hill. Dr. Billingsley earned his bachelor’s degree in speech communication from the
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, a master’s degree in telecommunications from
Texas Southern University, and Doctor of Education degree from Oklahoma State
University. He completed post-doctoral studie ́