School 'Ethics' Group Punishes Student for Opposing Homosexual Adoption
She Sues Missouri State U., Claiming First Amendment Violations
By Jim Brown
November 1, 2006

(AgapePress) - A social work student at Missouri State University has filed a lawsuit alleging the school required her to adopt a position in support of homosexual adoption as a precondition to getting her degree.

According to news reports, Dr. Frank Kaufman -- an assistant professor in MSU's School of Social Work on the Springfield campus and a member of the Faculty Senate at MSU -- assigned his students a project promoting homosexual foster homes and adoption. The students were required to write and individually sign a letter to the Missouri legislature in support of homosexual adoption. Emily Brooker says she refused to sign the letter because of her religious convictions, and alleges she was punished for taking that stand.

Brooker says the school subjected her to a grievance hearing where school officials told her she had violated three of the "Standards of Essential Functioning in Social Work Education": diversity, interpersonal skills, and professional behavior. The social work student is now suing the university for a violation of her First Amendment rights. Her attorney, David French with the Alliance Defense Fund, claims his client was interrogated for two-and-a-half hours by faculty members about the matter. the rest