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Missouri School Sued By Student Who Refused To Support Gay Adoptions

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mwkruse
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From the Christian Post: Missouri School Sued By Student Who Refused To Support Gay Adoptions

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri State University graduate has sued the school, claiming she was retaliated against because she refused to support gay adoption as part of a class project.

Emily Brooker's federal lawsuit, filed on her behalf Monday by the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, claims the retaliation against her Christian beliefs violated her First Amendment right to free speech.

The lawsuit names the members of the university's Board of Governors, school President Michael T. Nietzel and four faculty or administrators of the School of Social Work.

In the complaint, Brooker said she was accused of violating the school's Standards of Essential Functioning in Social Work Education.

She said one of her professor's, Frank G. Kauffman, accused her of the violation after he assigned a project that required the entire class to write and each sign a letter to the Missouri Legislature in support of gay adoption. Brooker said her Christian beliefs required her to refuse to sign the letter.

Comments

4 responses to “Missouri School Sued By Student Who Refused To Support Gay Adoptions”

  1. Jinny Avatar
    Jinny

    Why aren’t they questioning the teacher’s abuse of privilege (essentially threatening students’s grades–students who might never otherwise sign or write in)?
    I know plenty of kids at that age who would sell out in order to pass a class–easier to do so than fight.

    Reply
  2. Michael Kruse Avatar
    Michael Kruse

    I agree. Political positions aside, for a teacher to require students to engage in a prescribed partisan political action as part of a class assignment is a violattion of academic freedom and a complete abuse of power. It says something disturbing about the mindset of a teacher how would even consider this as a legitmate action.
    When I began a grad degree in sociology/demography at Kansas State in the early 1980s the department was ALL politically liberal with several Marxist faculty. For at least the first semester I was unofficially disinvited from everything except the classes. I was openly ridiculed in the hallways or in discussions after class on more than one occassion. By the end of the second semester I established some friendships and went on to have a fairly respectful experience.
    Doesn’t sound like things have changed much in social science departments at state universities.

    Reply
  3. Benjamin Avatar
    Benjamin

    We are entering a time where Consertive Christians are going to have to be careful and be willing to stand up for what they believe to be right. We have already seen in Canada and the Scandinavian countries teachers and administators being fired for “anti-gay” speech which the laws of those countries place in the category of hate-speech. It is only a matter of time before that becomes the rule here in the United States.

    Reply
  4. Michael Kruse Avatar
    Michael Kruse

    Benjamin, I think its hard to tell where things end up. Seems to me there is an ebb and flow to a lot this stuff. I think this story raises the issues about the purposes of higher education and academic freedom. 25 years ago when I was a grad student, there were Christian Profs. (who I wouldn’t even call Evangelical) who were leary of talking publicly about their faith; and this was in the middle of Kansas. This kind of stuff isn’t entirely new but does highlight that keeping the “free” in “academic freedom” is an ongoing struggle.

    Reply

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