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Monday, January 30, 2012

Julea Ward Gets a Court Victory « Student Activism

Julea Ward Gets a Court Victory « Student Activism:

Julea Ward Gets a Court Victory

A federal appeals court gave a conservative Christian counseling student’s lawsuit new life last week, ruling that Julea Ward’s case against Eastern Michigan University could go forward.

Ward was expelled from EMU’s graduate counseling program in early 2009. As I wrote at the time, Ward asked to be reassigned off the case of a gay counseling client. In a letter she read during her disciplinary hearing, Ward said she believes that “God ordained relationships between men and women,” and that people should “strive to cultivate sexual desires for persons of the opposite sex.” She is, she said, “morally obligated … to express the biblical viewpoint regarding proper sexual relationships” in the course of her counseling work.

When asked by the school why she would feel comfortable counseling someone who was contemplating