Over at NRO, David French reports a favorable ruling on the case of Julea Ward, a Eastern Michigan University graduate student in counseling. She was expelled from her graduate program because she felt she could not counsel a person with same sex attraction regarding relationship difficulties. She referred this individual to another counselor, in accordance with professional norms. She is now suing the school and the professors who expelled her. And winning.
The facts are extraordinary:
Eastern Michigan University expelled Julea Ward because she was unwilling to vocally support same-sex sexual conduct in counseling sessions. They expelled her in spite of the fact that the she referred to another counselor the only client for whom her stance was relevant and had never even engaged the issue with that client. They expelled her in spite of the fact that she followed the exact process for referral recommended by leaders in the profession. In short, they expelled her not because she harmed anyone but simply because she was unwilling to express support for things she did not believe.Applying an astonishingly broad policy that prohibits students from even “condoning” discrimination (whatever that means), the university informed Julea that she would have to “see the error of her ways” and change her “belief system” to stay in school. She refused to change her deeply held beliefs, refused to voice support for actions she finds immoral, and found herself out of the program — in spite of a stellar GPA.
In last week’s ruling, the court turned back the university’s request that school officials enjoy “qualified immunity” from any damage claims, instead finding that:
“Ward has sufficiently plead and come forward with evidence that the EMU defendants’ act of dismissing Ward violated First and Fourteenth Amendment rights so clearly established that a reasonable official in their position would have clearly understood that they were under an affirmative duty to refrain from such conduct.”
This is a welcome development.