College Student Dismissed After Raising Religious Objections

We are working on a letter on behalf of a student who was recently dismissed from a public universitys masters acting program after completing his first year. The student was dismissed because the university did not want to accommodate his religious beliefs by allowing him to refrain from having to use profanity, take Gods name in vain, or appear in productions which include nudity. The issue came up several times throughout the past academic year when the student was asked to use profane and blasphemous language and appear in a theatre production involving partial nudity.

The university has no written policy on when faculty members should or should not accommodate student requests regarding the use of profanity or nudity. In fact, when the student raised the issue of whether nudity would be required at an entrance interview in 2007, he was told that it would not be required. The lack of a written policy has meant that students have been accommodated in some instances but not in others.

Our letter will initiate the universitys formal grievance process. The letter will explain that the university violated a state Religious Freedom Restoration Act which prohibits government actors, like public universities, from infringing upon the free exercise of religion unless their actions are narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling government interest. We are also arguing that the unwritten policy and the dismissal violated the Free Exercise, Free Speech, and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment. We are demanding that the student be reinstated and that the university ensure that students will not be required to violate their religious beliefs in order to remain in the program.