University of California and Christian curriculum

On the 12th of December a story was covered in various venues concerning a lawsuit by the Association of Christian Schools International, Calvary Chapel Schools, and six of Calvary Chapel’s students, against the University of California.  The suit is based on what the plaintiffs see as "viewpoint discrimination" because the University system has disallowed crediting of science courses that use religiously-based texts as the primary texts for some courses that are not primarily religious.

• NPR:  Christian Schools Sue U. Calif. System over Content (audio report)

• San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, California, Culture war pits UC vs. Christian way of teaching, Religious schools challenge admission standards in court

  Biology and physics textbooks from Christian publishers were found wanting, as were three Calvary humanities courses.

• SacUnion.com, The Sacramento Union, Sacramento, California, Creed, Curriculum and California Schools

  The suit was filed this summer on behalf of six students at Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta, about 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

  …

  [Christopher Patti, UC legal counsel] said students can meet UC admission requirements by passing a SAT II subject test with about 550 points out of 800. Meanwhile, UC doesn’t object to use of the Christian texts, provided they’re not the main course books, he said.

The homeschooling connection is that the books in question, from Bob Jones University, and A Beka, are used by many homeschooling parents.

• Economist.com, The Economist, 14 December 2005, A new front in the culture wars: The Lord’s word

  For instance, when home-schooled children or students from private Christian schools apply to a public university, they are typically judged by their examination scores—and, typically, they are required to perform much better than their counterparts from the public schools.

Viewpoints-on-the-viewpoint issue are:

• The university has the right to set its admission standards
• There are other universities to which the students could apply
• If the standards are applied across-the-board, then no discimination exists
• Students from the schools test above average
• The university is publicly funded

I ‘checked around the Web’ to find out the status of the suit because I haven’t seen any follow-up news reports.  According to comments at a blog, the suit is on hold (dismissed?) because of the failure of one side to attach a proof of service.

The blog has a specific thread dedicated to the case:

• Dispatches from the Culture Wars:  UC Lawsuit

In reading this material, I see similarities between the lawsuit against the University of California, and Section 522 of the National Defense Authorization Act concerning the recruitment and enlistment of homeschooled graduates into the military services.  Both Section 522 and the lawsuit demand privilege outside what is required for all applicants.  In the Section 522 case, it is removing the "alternative" status (Tier II instead of Tier I) for a homeschooled education.  In the lawsuit against the University of California, it is allowing students at Christian schools to be admitted with 11 core hours instead of the 15 required of other applicants, and the use of alternative textbooks.

Same song, different verse.

This entry was posted on December 29, 2005 at 11:22 am and is filed under Higher Education, Military Homeschoolers, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.