ICC Note: The Community College of Baltimore County is facing a lawsuit after rejecting, for the second time, a student based on their Christian faith to the school’s radiation therapy program. The program director rejected potential student Dustin Buxton after he answered the question “What do you base your morals on?” posed to him by the program’s review panel by saying “my faith.” Despite no other comments about his faith during the review, the program director later said “Dustin brought up religion a great deal during the interview. Yes, this is a field that involves death and dying; but religion cannot be brought up in the clinic by therapists or students.”
9/10/14 United States (ChristianNews) – A community college in Maryland has been leveled with a second lawsuit for allegedly rejecting a student because of his Christian faith.
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) has filed a legal challenge against the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) on behalf of student Dustin Buxton for denying him entry into the college’s radiation therapy program because he cited his faith during his interview as an applicant.
“During that interview in 2013, Dustin was asked by the CCBC interview panel, ‘What do you base your morals on?’ Dustin replied, ‘My faith,’” ACLJ attorney Michelle Terry outlined in a report this week. “His faith was not mentioned again, yet, in a written review of his interview, the program director, Adrienne Dougherty, stated that Dustin had lost points because ‘[Dustin] also brought up religion a great deal during the interview. Yes, this is a field that involves death and dying; but religion cannot be brought up in the clinic by therapist or students.’”
Buxton applied for the program for both the 2013 and 2014 school years, surpassing academic standards and making the dean’s list in 2013. However, after his initial interview in 2013, he was not invited back for another interview when he applied the following year, even though his grade point average (GPA) was even higher than the year before.
Buxton then attempted to discuss his denials with various officials at the college, including Charles Martino, the academic adviser for the radiation therapy program, who advised that he did not believe Buxton was rejected because of his GPA.
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