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Lawmaker says his daughter was forced to write a pro-LGBT letter for a class assignment
A Utah bill that would expand religious accommodations to college classroom assignments has prompted skepticism from some academics, with one calling the legislation too broad and another questioning its impact on critical thinking.
The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Michael Petersen, passed its final vote in the Utah House on Wednesday, after the Senate approved it earlier this month. It now heads to the governor for his signature.
Petersen introduced the bill earlier this year after he said his daughter found herself faced with a difficult situation in college. As an assignment, her professor had the class advocate for pro-LGBT ideology by writing a letter to a local lawmaker, Petersen told The Utah Statesman in February.
“She called and said, ‘Hey, Dad, I’ve got an assignment. I’m supposed to write a letter to my legislator advocating on behalf of LGBT policy,’” Petersen told the newspaper. “That’s compelling someone to speak. We have a First Amendment on purpose.”
Of his bill, the Republican lawmaker said: “It’s not about getting out of learning new things. It’s about having to do things that violate your conscience.”
Petersen drafted House Bill 204 to make it easier for students to obtain exemptions from assignments that would violate their “sincerely held religious and conscience beliefs.” It would require professors to offer reasonable accommodations, by either excusing their participation or offering an alternative assignment.
Petersen’s office did not respond to two requests for an interview from The Fix, asking about the legislation and his daughter’s experience.
Meanwhile, University of Utah Law Professor Clifford Rosky, when asked if there are potential benefits to the bill, told The College Fix that they appear to be limited.
“From an academic or curricular perspective, the practical effect of the resolution appears limited. Since it does not change curricular standards or impose new requirements, its impact would likely be symbolic unless followed by substantive legislation,” Rosky said in a Feb. 27 email.
“Courts have long recognized that students retain constitutional rights in public schools, while also allowing schools to structure curriculum and classroom activities,” he told The Fix.
On the other hand, a professor with the Utah Valley University chapter of the American Association of University Professors found the “religious or conscience belief” language to be too vague and open to interpretation.
“The bill referred to ‘activities’ a number of times and we found that a bit too broad,” Rick McDonald told The College Fix in a recent email. “(For example, Is an activity a small group conversation in a class and could you object to the activity because people in the group held different opinions than you–that sort of thing).”
He also said regarding the mission of the UVU chapter and the bill: “Generally our union advocates for the academic freedom of its professors (and their students), so we find concerns about ‘beliefs of conscience’ legislation actually restrict the free speech in a classroom more than it protects it, but we appreciate that there seem to be misconceptions about the intent of college professors with regards to controversial discussions within the classroom as a result of distrust of higher ed in general.”
Meanwhile, Utah Valley University spokesperson Sharon Turner told The Fix in a March 2 email that the university is not taking a position on the bill.
Additionally, a higher education commentator expressed concerns about viewpoint diversity if students are able to refuse assignments that may stretch their beliefs.
Nicole Barbaro, a spokesperson for the Heterodox Academy, described the bill as “hardly a shift toward promoting critical thinking and viewpoint diversity” in an article for the organization’s substack in February.
“The fuzzy lines of this legislation and what justifies a reasonable ‘moral belief’ worth accommodation opens yet another avenue for administrators and lawmakers to wield power over the classroom,” Barbaro wrote in the article, which she shared with The Fix when contacted for comment about the bill.
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