Bedard

Being one of the instructors that made this decision and made the original post I would like to explain our position a little more and hopefully this will clarify our reasoning for the actions we took. We did not take this action lightly nor was this our first choice. We try other options to resolve this issue but "James" was not receptive.

We did try to guide "James" to the best of our abilities but at some point the student has to take some responsibility for his own training and for his actions or at least meet us half way. As Will stated in his post, "James" was asked to leave for more than just what he did on the web. "James" is always welcome back once he demonstrates that he is ready and willing to learn. As Peter pointed out, we are not professional therapist; we teach aikido because we love it and have been practicing it for many years. We do not get paid to teach, all dues go into supporting the dojo and keeping a mat under our feet

I do not want to stop "James" or anyone else from expressing their opinions and neither do any of the other instructors in our dojo. We certainly do not want to control someone's personal life. I do not have any problem with people disagreeing with me; actually I like it because it keeps me honest. "James" may be back on this forum soon using his real identity and I welcome his input.

I posted my original message because I thought it was the right thing to do at the time, maybe it was not but it has made for an interesting thread. I probably should have made it clear that it was not just what he posted to this forum that lead to our actions and for that I apologize. We welcome anyone who wants to practice with us.