Ex-U. actress to get jury trial in bias lawsuit

University of Utah theater professors may have violated the constitutional rights of a former student when they refused to allow her to omit profanity from an in-class performance, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that a jury should decide whether the university discriminated against Christina Axson-Flynn because of her membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The unanimous decision overturns U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell's August 2001 decision that requiring an acting student to use profanity when portraying a character does not infringe on students' rights to free speech and exercise of religion.

"This is a great victory for religious freedom," said Axson-Flynn's attorney, Michael Paulsen. "It is a unanimous decision rejecting the lower court's approach and finding that a state university may not discriminate in an academic program on the basis of a student's religious beliefs and freedom of speech. Students cannot be compelled by university officials to violate their religious consciences by word or deed.

"That's a huge principle, and I think it will be hugely important to the rest of the nation."

Both Paulsen, a law professor at the University of Minnesota who specializes in cases involving freedoms of speech and religion, and fellow Axson-Flynn attorney Brad Parker called Tuesday's decision a landmark ruling.

"It affirms the concept that religious convictions have value and are protected under the Constitution," Parker said. "We also believe it dictates and reaffirms the principle that our educational institutions, like the University of Utah, should be institutions of tolerance for moral and religious beliefs."

Axson-Flynn, now 24, said Tuesday she was "thrilled" with the decision, which has been pending since November 2002, when the appeals court heard arguments in the case.

Though disappointed by the resurrection of the case, university officials welcomed a trial as an opportunity to defend the U.'s nationally ranked Actor Training Program. "We're confident that the facts that will be developed in the district court will vindicate the actions of our theater department faculty," department chairman David Dynak said.

"We feel throughout this long period of time that the representatives of Christina Axson-Flynn have made a number of unfair and false allegations against the U., against our program and against our faculty. We refute these baseless allegations and we will continue to defend the integrity of our program."

Before she was accepted into the program in 1998, Axson-Flynn told department officials she would not take her Lord's name in vain or use certain expletives. But when she later objected to the words, Axson-Flynn claims she was threatened with a failing grade and told to "get over" her religious convictions.

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