Student Story

Emily Brooker - Student Rights in School

Emily Brooker was a senior at Missouri State University, studying social work, when one of her professors assigned his students the task of writing the state legislature in support of foster care and adoptions by same-sex couples.  Emily respectfully asked for a different assignment – one that wouldn’t require her to take a moral stance she didn’t believe in.  Instead, the professor filed charges with a faculty ethics committee that grilled Emily for hours about her Christian faith.

That prompted Emily to contact the Alliance Defense Fund, who filed suit against MSU on her behalf.  The president of the university launched a full investigation that completely exonerated Emily – after which the school suspended her professor, made a public apology, and offered to pay for her graduate school education at any other public school in the state.  The case even prompted the Missouri House of Representatives to pass the “Emily Brooker Intellectual Diversity Act” – requiring tax payer funded colleges and universities to more effectively monitor their attitudes toward student beliefs and convictions.  Other states are considering similar legislation.

                                                                         Watch Emily's Story

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