Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed suit against Augusta State University Wednesday on behalf of a counseling student who was allegedly told that her Christian beliefs are unethical and incompatible with the prevailing views of the counseling profession. The student, Jennifer Keeton, says she has been told to stop communicating her beliefs and that she must undergo "training" to accept homosexuality in order to graduate from the counseling program.
Augusta State ordered Keeton to undergo a re-education plan, in which she must attend “diversity sensitivity training,” complete additional remedial reading, and write papers to describe their impact on her beliefs. If she does not change her beliefs or agree to the plan, the university says it will expel her from the Counselor Education Program.
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ADF is currently litigating a similar case involving a counseling student at Eastern Michigan University and successfully resolved a case at Missouri State University. Also in litigation is a case involving a Georgia counselor fired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because she would not agree to affirm homosexual behavior as morally acceptable.
This is unsettling. Yes, to expose students to a diversity of viewpoints is a necessary part of higher education. And, yes, a school shouldn’t accredit someone who can’t grasp an undisputed fundamental (say, a nursing student who believes in the curative powers of leeches). But it appears this state university requires its students to adhere to one side of a debate that’s ongoing.
Keep this in mind when you get into a conversation with someone who only accepts those who graduate from accredited programs as valid spokespersons for a particular subject. When accredited programs only allow students to graduate who will not dispute the fundamentalism of their professors, it’s no surprise that eventually the only accredited spokespersons available will be those who were too afraid or too uncritical to challenge the prevailing powers.
Related: Tom Gilson at First Things has a clever satire: Disgusting State University to Professor: Change Your Beliefs or Get Out!
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