Christian university demands refund of scholarship money...

[klavierspieler]

...from a woman they kicked out for being gay. This is honestly a new one to me, despite having attended PCC. I mean, they didn't hesitate to kick people out if you were so much as accused of being gay, and they were definitely sleazy about money (one of their favorite tactics was to wait until the final payment for the semester had been paid, about six weeks in, and then kick people out with no refund), but I don't think even PCC tried to reclaim scholarship money. I'm honestly not sure that it's even legal.

http://tinyurl.com/llkkrh2 (link not broken because it goes to change.org)

I found the story through this video, which someone sent to me on Facebook and was also worth sharing just because it's awesome. :)

http://tinyurl.com/kskcywf (link not broken because it goes to a page on upworthy)

[PennySycamore]

Signed the petition. That's just ridiculous to demand the money back.

[Arete]

I signed as well.

[holierthanyou]

I hope the woman counter-demands a full refund of all her tithes and offerings.

[snarkyjan]

Signed and shared.

[Childless]

It was the college's decision to kick her out. Therefore, they must take the hit money wise. If she paid the tuition herself, then they certainly wouldn't give the money back to her when they kicked her out. Shouldn't it work the same way in reverse?

[Stephanie66]

Although they should not make her return the scholarships, why do students who are lesbian or gay choose to stay in a school that will expel them for it? And if she didn't realize she was "the right kind of Christian" until AFTER she enrolled, why didn't she transfer out to a college that doesn't discriminate?

Unfortunately, private colleges DO have the right to discriminate on race and religion. Spellman College doesn't accept non-African American students, nor do they accept males. Granted, these things aren't likely to change, but it IS their right. Religious colleges have the right to do whatever they want as far as who is allowed in their college. Heck, they even do in their high schools.

BUT..breaking this down into a simple contract, they didn't give her the credits she earned (for whatever reason) and refused to graduate her, so she walks away with no debt to them, either.

[Peas n carrots]

Huh, I'm from that area and I honestly don't know anything about that school...and it's not like there are a ton of colleges in Nebraska. I was under the impression it was kind of a PCC type school where a degree from there doesn't really mean anything.

As to why someone would go to a school like this to begin with, there could be a plethora of reasons...maybe it was the best scholarship offered, or perhaps at the time she hadn't worked out her sexual preference. Or she may not have carefully read the student handbook. Nebraska is a conservative state, but Omaha/Lincoln are far less conservative than the rest of the state. Maybe she assumed that it wouldn't be that big of a deal to be openly gay at her college.

I'll sign the petition, hopefully this gets dropped. Nebraska has such a terrible track record with the QUILTBAG community, and I like to do what I can to move it into the 21st century.

[louisa05]

Grace is a conservative evangelical school. It is properly accredited so that is a slight step above places like PCC and BJU. But it is extremely conservative, requires every student to major in "Bible" in addition to whatever degree they are pursuing, has strict rules and dress codes; and my Christian school students at a high school literally down the road from it called it "Marriage U" as that was the main goal for most female students.

I am also from the area, and, yes, there aren't thousands of colleges in Nebraska, but there are plenty of options in the immediate area that would be accepting of gay students including UNO, Creighton, Midland, Bellevue, and even St. Mary's. Moving outside of the Metro area, Wesleyan, UNL, the state colleges--Wayne, Peru, Chadron, UNK, Hastings, and Doane would all be more open as well. My alma mater is in that non-Metro list and while it was religiously affiliated, it was a liberal campus and I went to school with many openly gay students 20 years ago even. I taught in a Catholic high school in the Metro area and had students who were gay and happily graduated from Midland, St Mary's and UNO respectively. This woman had plenty of choices. So while I sympathize with the situation, this was not her only choice just because it is Nebraska and the state is conservative.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

What does that mean, they didn't give her her credits? For all 3.5 years?? They can do that?

[Ruby Slippers]

Grace is a conservative evangelical school. It is properly accredited so that is a slight step above places like PCC and BJU. But it is extremely conservative, requires every student to major in "Bible" in addition to whatever degree they are pursuing, has strict rules and dress codes; and my Christian school students at a high school literally down the road from it called it "Marriage U" as that was the main goal for most female students.

I am also from the area, and, yes, there aren't thousands of colleges in Nebraska, but there are plenty of options in the immediate area that would be accepting of gay students including UNO, Creighton, Midland, Bellevue, and even St. Mary's. Moving outside of the Metro area, Wesleyan, UNL, the state colleges--Wayne, Peru, Chadron, UNK, Hastings, and Doane would all be more open as well. My alma mater is in that non-Metro list and while it was religiously affiliated, it was a liberal campus and I went to school with many openly gay students 20 years ago even. I taught in a Catholic high school in the Metro area and had students who were gay and happily graduated from Midland, St Mary's and UNO respectively. This woman had plenty of choices. So while I sympathize with the situation, this was not her only choice just because it is Nebraska and the state is conservative.

If it was the only place she could afford / got a scholarship to, then her choices were indeed limited.

This sounds like victim blaming.

[louisa05]

If it was the only place she could afford / got a scholarship to, then her choices were indeed limited.

This sounds like victim blaming.

I was responding to Peas N Carrots who implied that there are 1) few or possibly no other colleges to go to in the area/state and 2) it is so conservative here that the woman might be kicked out of every school in the area and outright said 3) that s/he knows nothing about Grace U.

My best educated guess (I taught with alums of Grace and many former students at that school went to Grace and a former co-worker is now a professor there) would not be that this was the best financial opportunity for anyone but that the young woman may have been under parental pressure to go there for religious reasons. I also think that she may be able to find a school in the area that would be willing to step up to arrange for her to complete a degree in a timely manner. We aren't that backward here.

[klavierspieler]

Although they should not make her return the scholarships, why do students who are lesbian or gay choose to stay in a school that will expel them for it? And if she didn't realize she was "the right kind of Christian" until AFTER she enrolled, why didn't she transfer out to a college that doesn't discriminate?

I don't know the women involved (the one who was kicked out or her wife), so I don't know any more than what was written in the petition. But it said she didn't start dating a woman until sometime during her final semester. She may have not realized that she was gay until she was already several years in and then hoped that she could fly under the radar until she finished due to pressure from parents/family/church/whatever reason. Or she might have just suddenly fallen in love and still been trying to figure herself and her sexuality out when she got kicked out. Life doesn't always work smoothly where you figure out your sexuality and then find someone and fall in love, especially if you've been raised in the type of environment where you'd be likely to head off to a very conservative Christian college. And if that was the case, there would be no point in transferring during your last semester.

Again, I don't know any more about her than was in the petition, so I might be viewing her experience too much through the lens of my own. I went to PCC and fell in love with my roommate, who was also the APL (assistant prayer leader). I was homeschooled all the way up and went to a church that danced all around preaching courtship only without coming right out and saying it, so I had zero experience with dating of any kind, much less with someone of the same sex. It was an extremely confusing time for me, and while I know it makes me sound like an idiot to say it, the idea of gay people as monsters and pedophiles was so ingrained in me that it took me more than a year to realize that I was, in fact, in love with another girl, and another year past that to come to terms with the fact that I was gay. By then I'd already long since transferred out of PCC for other reasons, but if those other circumstances hadn't caused me to leave before then, I could easily see myself being 3 years into a degree and feeling trapped. (It all worked out for me though, I got my degree from an accredited university, left the fundie life behind entirely, and I'm marrying the girl I fell in love with all the way back at PCC in 11 months. :D )

[Peas n carrots]

Grace is a conservative evangelical school. It is properly accredited so that is a slight step above places like PCC and BJU. But it is extremely conservative, requires every student to major in "Bible" in addition to whatever degree they are pursuing, has strict rules and dress codes; and my Christian school students at a high school literally down the road from it called it "Marriage U" as that was the main goal for most female students.

I am also from the area, and, yes, there aren't thousands of colleges in Nebraska, but there are plenty of options in the immediate area that would be accepting of gay students including UNO, Creighton, Midland, Bellevue, and even St. Mary's. Moving outside of the Metro area, Wesleyan, UNL, the state colleges--Wayne, Peru, Chadron, UNK, Hastings, and Doane would all be more open as well. My alma mater is in that non-Metro list and while it was religiously affiliated, it was a liberal campus and I went to school with many openly gay students 20 years ago even. I taught in a Catholic high school in the Metro area and had students who were gay and happily graduated from Midland, St Mary's and UNO respectively. This woman had plenty of choices. So while I sympathize with the situation, this was not her only choice just because it is Nebraska and the state is conservative.

I perhaps wasn't clear...I meant that the aggrieved woman, if she was from Omaha, may have assumed that any university in the metro would be LGBT friendly as opposed to say, Chadron.

I'm from one of the towns that has a non-metro college, and I can think of several gays who were open or semi-open. I have siblings at said school and it seems the college is very supportive of the LGBT students.

[klavierspieler]

I came across this news story today, which gives a little bit more detail on the case. It sounds like the relationship kind of blindsided her, and while she was still confused about her sexuality she got discovered, recalled, and forced to go to counseling before being kicked out anyway. It's also interesting to me that the college is trying to claim that they are required to force her to pay back the scholarships because of federal law, but the Dept. of Education says that's not true..

http://news.yahoo.com/christian-college ... 14855.html

[mlady]

This is interesting. Do they follow up on the lives of every student/graduate and rescind their diploma/credits and ask for scholarship money back if they step out of line?

Ok, she's gay and you don't approve. Move forward and do what you have to do. But you don't get a do-over so you can pretend the last few years never happened.

[uber frau]

What does that mean, they didn't give her her credits? For all 3.5 years?? They can do that?

I know BYU does that. If you break the honour code or de-convert from Mormonism, even if it's afterimage exams , they will deny you the right to graduate and any academic transcripts.