WHO IS JAY BENNISH? Suburban jock became seeker of global truths

News
Robert Sanchez Denver Post Staff Writer

10 March 2006
Denver Post


A former J.Crew-clad high school lacrosse star whose parents had an Eddie Bauer- edition Ford Explorer in the garage of their home in a conservative Detroit suburb, Jay Bennish these days represents a life opposite from the one he once lived.

Few of his former classmates could have predicted early in school that their once-

close friend - now a social studies teacher at Aurora's Overland High School - would become the latest lightning rod between conservative and liberal politics nationwide.

But by Bennish's junior year at Seaholm High School in suburban Detroit in late 1994, he had quit lacrosse, grown apart from some of those friends and transformed himself from a clean- cut student- athlete into a suburban hippie.

'As he got older in high school, he changed,' said Owen Blank, 28, who graduated with Bennish in 1996. 'He grew out his hair, wore tie-dye, listened to Rasta music, you know, like a lot of the kids who were rebelling against their upper-management parents.'

A rebel with privileges

Bennish, now 28, stands accused of presenting a biased, politically charged lecture to an Overland geography class last month during which he compared President Bush to Adolf Hitler, criticized U.S. foreign policy and said capitalism is 'at odds with human rights.'

While Bennish has said that he was only provoking debate in his classroom, the teacher has been vilified on television, radio talk shows and conservative Internet blogs.

Bennish was placed on administrative leave last week while Cherry Creek School District officials investigated the lecture and other complaints regarding his teaching style. District administrators have said they'll discuss the case today.

The Hitler comment sparked national debate over his classroom discussions. The February lecture, which a 16-year-old student recorded on an MP3 device and sent to a conservative columnist, has brought threats against Bennish and the student, Sean Allen.

Whatever Bennish's motives during the lecture, former Seaholm students who knew him as a teenager said he was inspired to teach through his own debates in some of his school's most advanced classes.

His politics, too, were shaped during that time, though they were less overt than in his adult years.

Friends said he wanted to be different from many of the other upper-class students, and that challenging the conservative mores and the wealth that surrounded him gave Bennish his opening.

In his high school classes, which were part of his school's elite 'Flex' program, students were encouraged to meld history, literature, philosophy and politics into everyday lessons, then debate those topics in class.

Bennish may have seen those classes - which former Seaholm students said were considered less structured and more liberal than other classes at the 1,200-student school - as a way to expand himself, if only partly, beyond the society in which he lived.

'Jay grew up pretty conservative, upper-middle-class, with the Polo shirts with the pink collars,' said Nick Hanna, 28, who was one of Bennish's closest friends.

But 'he really became interested in (politics and history) from those classes, and I think that's what pushed him to form his own opinions and turn himself into who he is today.

'If you saw Jay later in high school and didn't know him, you would have assumed that he was a bad student or that he didn't care about academics. Those people were wrong.'

'He was the 'in' guy'

In fact, Bennish's roots were firmly entrenched in the capitalistic society he would later condemn.

The middle son of a teacher and a pharmaceutical-sales representative, Bennish grew up in Beverly Hills, Mich. - a wealthy suburb about 20 miles north of Detroit - where he lived across the street from his elementary school and invited friends to play on his family's trampoline.

Lean and popular, topping out near 6 feet tall as a 15-year-old, Bennish starred as a defenseman on varsity lacrosse teams as a freshman and sophomore. He always had dates to school dances and went to parties. Girls were drawn to him.

'He was the in guy,' Hanna said.

What else is known about his academic record and other social activities is limited. Teachers at Seaholm declined to discuss Bennish's time at the school, and Bennish, his parents and his attorney did not return calls seeking comment.

'I don't think Jay ever struggled with who he was or where he belonged,' said Brad Laurain, 27, who graduated with Bennish. 'He was a hard worker, and he was intelligent. I'd assume he's still like that.'

After high school, Bennish moved to Flagstaff, Ariz., and attended Northern Arizona University.

While former friends said he likely moved to Arizona because of a love of the outdoors - especially snowboarding - he earned academic distinction as a member of the Golden Key Honors Society and the National Dean's List.

He graduated summa cum laude in 2000 with a degree in history and social studies, with an emphasis on Latin America, according to his rsum given to the Cherry Creek district when he applied for his job in 2000.

Susan Deeds, Bennish's Latin American history professor at NAU, said her student talked passionately about wanting to teach and to 'introduce students to their connections to the rest of the world.'

In college, Deeds said, Bennish often peppered students and lecturers with questions about their stances on neoliberalism and globalization.

'He wanted to promote social justice, and he liked to engage people in those debates,' Deeds said. 'He never did it in an aggressive or bombastic way. He was trying to get his points across.'

Debating in the hallways

That style continued after Bennish got his job at Overland.

Students who took his classes said he often debated other teens in the hallway but that the discussions were always good- natured.

'Mr. Bennish gave everyone a chance to voice their opinion, because he wanted to make our opinions stronger and base them on facts,' said Morgan Earles, 16, who took Bennish's honors geography class this year. 'We miss him.'

Now, a decade after their high school graduation, Bennish's former school friends said they support their classmate, too, even if they don't all agree with him.

And in some ways, the Aurora teacher's problems have brought old friends together - even if it's only for a few days.

'My buddies and I have seen him on the national news, and we've been laughing about it,' said Blank, the former friend. 'From the photo we saw, it doesn't look like he's changed much in 10 years.'

Staff writer Robert Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-1282 or rsanchez@denverpost.com.