A professor at a public university in North Carolina forbade his students from thanking God in personal statements that will be delivered during their departmental graduation ceremony on Friday.
In an email obtained by Campus Reform, Assistant Professor Eli Hvastkovs, who teaches chemistry at East Carolina University (ECU), instructed his students to prepare a “family friendly” 35 word personal statement that mentions future plans or “thanks someone.”
The students, however, were explicitly forbidden from thanking God.
“I’ve had some submissions that needed to be edited. so [sic] here are some guidelines,” the email reads. “1. You can’t thank God. I’m sorry about this – and I don’t want to have to outline the reasons why.” Full report.
The interview later revealed that this was not a school policy and, in fact, the provost (the senior academic administrator) issued a statement to students that they were to disregard the professors restriction of God.
According to the message from the provost, the school would honor first amendment rights and would not censor any religious references.