Christian Student Alleges Professor Censored Speech on God
A Christian student is suing a speech professor at a California community college, alleging the teacher discriminated against his beliefs when he censored a classroom speech on God and marriage.
Jonathan Lopez, a student at Los Angeles City College, said the professor of his speech class, John Matteson, called him a "fascist b**tard" mid-way through his speech last November and refused to let him finish.
The professor then said that anyone offended by Lopez's speech could leave the class. When no one left, the professor dismissed the class early, according to a suit filed Feb. 11 against the Los Angeles Community College District.
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During the speech, Lopez spoke about God and the ways in which he has seen God act both in his life and in the lives of others through miracles. On the topic of God and morality, he read a dictionary definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman and recited two Bible verses.
Lopez said he received his evaluation form on the informative speech assignment back without a grade.
On the paper, the professor wrote several comments including, "Ask God what your grade is" and "Proselytizing is inappropriate in public school."
One week later, after seeing Lopez talking to the college's dean of academic affairs Allison Jones, Matteson told Lopez that he would make sure he'd be expelled from school.
The suit, filed on behalf of Lopez by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom, alleges Matteson violated Lopez's free speech rights by engaging in viewpoint discrimination and retaliation because he disagreed with the student's religious beliefs.
"Public institutions of higher learning cannot selectively censor Christian speech," said ADF Senior Counsel David French. "America's public universities and colleges are supposed to be a 'marketplace of ideas,' not a hotbed of intolerance."
The suit seeks an injunction against the school from restricting student speech in the classroom when students are given open-ended assignments, a declaration that states the school violated Lopez's rights to free speech and due process of law, and compensatory damages of $5,000.
An initial complaint letter to LACC stated Matteson was free to disagree with students' religious viewpoints but he could not "express that hostility ... through the means of imposing unique limitations upon speakers ... who disagree."
In a response letter to ADF by Jones, the dean of Academic Affairs at LACC, she said she had already discussed the matter with Lopez and had started a "progressive disciplinary process" against Matteson after Lopez submitted a written complaint.
ADF, however, said the school should have publicly repudiated the professor. It also called into question Jones' impartiality in the case because she repeated allegations by two students who described Lopez's speech as "hateful propaganda." She had noted in the letter that the students were "deeply offended" by the speech. An ADF litigation counsel wrote to Jones, calling the charges irrelevant to Matteson's behavior.
According to court filings, Matteson has made other disparaging comments to Lopez in class.
In December, Lopez inadvertently entered the classroom late when another student was speaking in front of the class. He was told by Matteson before his classmates that it was "not very Christian of you" to enter when someone was speaking.
The Los Angeles Community College District is the largest community college system in the United States. ADF said that a defeat of its unconstitutional speech code would be a victory for more than 135,000 students who attend the district's schools.
