Wendy Gonaver was not allowed to teach at Cal State Fullerton last year because she wouldn’t sign the loyalty oath that the state system demanded.

But she will be teaching there next year, thanks to an agreement that People for the American Way worked out for her on May 30.

She will be teaching the two courses in the fall that she was originally hired to teach. One is on Intro to American Studies, and she had prepared a section on McCarthyism for it. Her victory is not only a personal one, as others now will be able to attach an explanatory statement to the loyalty oath, so long as it doesn’t undermine or qualify it, the agreement says.

“We are pleased that this dispute ended in a positive resolution, and that we were able to work through the process together,” said Christine Helwick, general counsel of Cal State University, in a press release.

“We’re delighted that Wendy will be able to teach at CSU and that the university has allowed her to exercise freedom of speech and express her strong religious beliefs,” said Judith Schaeffer, legal director of People for the American Way. “We’re especially pleased, as is Wendy, that others facing the same situation will also be able to work with CSU to resolve any issues they may have about the oath.”

Gonaver said she was grateful to People for the American Way, and to the thousands of people who signed a petition on her behalf that the group was circulating on the Internet.

She did have to slightly reword the statement she appended to the loyalty oath. Her new statement reads: “I support and respect the United States Constitution and the California constitution. And I fully intend to abide by the oath that I have been required to sign as a condition of my employment by California State University. As an American, I do object, however, to being compelled to sign such an oath and want to state my belief that such compulsion violates my right to freedom of speech. And as a Quaker, in order to sign the oath in good conscience, I must also state that I do not promise or undertake to bear arms or otherwise engage in violence, and I have been assured by CSU that my oath will not be construed to require me to do so.”

Her original statement had called the loyalty oath an “instrument of intimidation” and a form of “religious discrimination.”“Precedent is policy,” she told The Progressive. Noting that she objected to the oath not only on religious grounds but also free speech grounds, Gonaver added: “Now, as I understand it, anyone can submit such a statement.”She said she’s really looking forward to teaching at Cal State this fall. “I always had the support of the professors who hired me,” she said. “And I have since received very nice phone calls from administrators welcoming me.”