Universities Weblog

The University of California is being sued by the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). That's not really news, since the lawsuit was filed over two years ago now. But developments recently in the case are beginning to make it look like there could actually be a trial. And a verdict on the issue of how state colleges and universities should view private religious school curriculum when it comes time to evaluate a student for college admissions - that would settle one of the long standing battles in America's culture war between Right Wing Conservative Christians and the Liberal Left.

The buzz at the moment is about a Chicago Tribune article on the case. So I guess this is about news making news…

In a way the issue is simple. Students at California's 800 or so private religious high schools take classes that the University of California often won't recognize as fulfilling their admissions requirements. Cal thinks they have perfectly reasonable academic grounds for refusing to accept the credit; the ACSI thinks Cal is biased and that the reasons for Cal rejecting the courses boil down to viewpoint and perspective issues that are protected by the First Amendment. Cal thinks it offers an easy way around the problem by saying that they accept any student that makes above a certain score on the SAT; the ACSI thinks that having to make a higher score on the SAT just because you graduated from a private Christian school is an unduly burdensome requirement.

Edweek ran a nice blog post on the case. They describe the impact the case could have nicely: "The decision of this unprecedented case could have a large impact on curriculum-not only for California's approximately 800 religious secondary schools, but also for religious high schools around the country."

One of the most entertaining comments was from the anonymous blogger at Positive Infinity. He begins by referring to the 31st state as "the People's Republic of California" and goes on to use the phrase "these liberals" a few times. I guess disagreeing with bob jones university (that institution publishes many of the textbooks used by ACSI schools) makes you a Communist…

Anyway, it will be an interesting case to follow. We'll try and keep you posted.

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