CARBONDALE, Ill. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom sent a letter Wednesday to officials at Southern Illinois University, expressing concern over a social work professor’s continued refusal to grade a student’s paper on the topic of post-abortion syndrome. The ungraded paper has resulted in the student receiving an “incomplete” for the course that could prevent the student from completing her degree.
“Christian students do not forsake their constitutional right to express their faith-based views the minute they step on a university campus,” said ADF Litigation Counsel Amy Smith. “This is just another example of how Christian students are being punished at our nation’s public universities for expressing viewpoints that are not ‘politically correct.’ This professor is holding this student’s paper hostage because the professor disagreed with the student’s initial intent to include a faith-based component. The professor’s actions are neither constitutional nor fitting for a venue universally known as the marketplace of ideas.”
In the fall of 2006, Christine Mize, a graduate student in the School of Social Work at SIU, was assigned to create an eight-week therapy program based on a topic of the student’s own choosing and supported by independent research. Mize informed her professor that she intended to create a therapy plan for women who suffer from post-abortion syndrome, associating it with post-traumatic stress disorder. Mize informed the professor that the recovery portion would be faith-based. Upon hearing of the inclusion of a faith-based recovery plan, the professor informed Mize that she would downgrade Mize’s paper if it included such a section. Rather than have the paper downgraded, Mize reluctantly chose not to include that section.
After receiving some legal information on her constitutional right to include religion in her assignments when it is appropriate to the topic, Mize turned in her paper without the section but provided the professor with the legal information to avoid any misunderstandings in the future. She did not request that she be allowed to re-write her paper to include a faith-based component.
Since then, the professor has refused to grade her paper, resulting in a grade of “incomplete” for the class, which could keep her from finishing her degree. After numerous unsuccessful appeals to school administrators, including filing an official grievance letter with SIU, Mize turned to the ADF Center for Academic Freedom for assistance.
“It is our hope that the school will act swiftly and affirm Christine’s constitutional right to free speech so that she may continue with her education without fear of further retaliation,” said Smith.
The ADF Center for Academic Freedom is defending religious freedom at America’s public universities. ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.