Chronicle of Higher Education
Originally published June 26, 2012
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| Jennifer Keeton |
Judge J. Randal Hall of the U.S. District Court in Augusta, Ga., dismissed the lawsuit last week, rejecting its claims that the graduate counseling program had violated the student's rights under the U.S. Constitution by demanding that she demonstrate a willingness to counsel homosexual students in a nonjudgmental manner.
In upholding the counseling program's decision to kick out the student, Jennifer Keeton, for refusing to complete a remediation plan intended to change her position, Judge Hall said the plan was based on a "a legitimate pedagogical interest in cultivating a professional demeanor" and concern that Ms. Keeton "might prove unreceptive to certain issues and openly judge her clients."
Ms. Keeton was motivated by her religious beliefs, but those she sued were not, Judge Hall concluded in rejecting her claims that professors and administrators at Augusta State, and officials of the University System of Georgia, had violated her rights under the Constitution's First Amendment and Equal Protection Clause.
Rejecting the idea that the case represented "a public contest of values," Judge Hall said the facts it had presented "amount to no more than this: a student enrolled in a professional graduate program was required to complete a course of remediation after being cited for purported professional deficiencies by educators in her chosen field of study; she refused to do so and was dismissed from the program."
The entire story is here.
Thanks to Ken Pope for this story.
