{"id":6405,"date":"2009-06-07T12:24:13","date_gmt":"2009-06-07T12:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2009\/06\/ucla-allows-a-student-to-thank.html"},"modified":"2009-06-07T12:24:13","modified_gmt":"2009-06-07T12:24:13","slug":"ucla-allows-a-student-to-thank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2009\/06\/ucla-allows-a-student-to-thank.html","title":{"rendered":"UCLA allows a student to thank Jesus at commencement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, that’s awfully big of them<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The University of California in Los Angeles has responded to media pressure and agreed to allow a graduating student to thank Jesus in her personal statement.
\nUCLA student Christina Popa claimed the school’s Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology was denying her freedom of speech when she was told by Pamela Hurley, a faculty adviser, that she would not be allowed to mention “Jesus” in her graduation remarks.
\nThe adviser had told Popa in an e-mail exchanges this week that it was against the MCDB’s department policy to allow specific religious references based on the principle of separation of church and state.
\n[…]
\nOn Friday, a UCLA spokesperson sent Klingenschmitt a statement saying that the school had reviewed its procedures and would read the statements as originally submitted by the students.
\n“The reading of ‘words of wisdom’ at the UCLA Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology involves graduating students’ submission of a short message to be read onstage at Commencement by a member of the University Administration,” read UCLA’s statement. “Because the reading is by the University, not the students, to avoid the appearance that the University was advocating one religion over the other, guidelines were established so that messages would not include references to particular religions.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course the reading of the words of the students in no way imply an endorsement of religion, it was a ridiculous policy that violated a religious person’s freedom of speech. And that it’s at a university makes it even more ridiculous since universities should be about knowledge and the freedom to express that knowledge in whatever form it takes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, that’s awfully big of them: The University of California in Los Angeles has responded to media pressure and agreed to allow a graduating student to thank Jesus in her personal statement. UCLA student Christina Popa claimed the school’s Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology was denying her freedom of speech when she was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,414,402],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-education-2","category-religion-2"],"yoast_head":"\nUCLA allows a student to thank Jesus at commencement - Reformed Chicks Blabbing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2009\/06\/ucla-allows-a-student-to-thank.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UCLA allows a student to thank Jesus at commencement - Reformed Chicks Blabbing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Well, that’s awfully big of them: The University of California in Los Angeles has responded to media pressure and agreed to allow a graduating student to thank Jesus in her personal statement. 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