At a university like this that has origins rooted in religious affiliation, some presume that the line between factual instruction and religious indoctrination is easy to blur. This presumption is untrue, and faculty here are held to the same standards of accuracy as any other reputable institution.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, one California instructor at a public community college blatantly ignored this fact-faith distinction in his lecturing. A contemporary health instructor at Fresno City College reportedly used the Bible as the basis for a genetics research assignment and proclaimed homosexuality to be a mental illness. Religion aside, any updated, introductory psychology textbook will tell you homosexuality was declassified as a mental illness in 1973. While there is no law prohibiting someone from being religious and a public school instructor, there are California laws that prohibit religious indoctrination in public schools and discrimination against gays. Reconciling faith and fact may be a mission as old as humankind, but it is not one appropriate for discussion in a publicly funded college.

Institutions of higher education aim to produce well-rounded, informed graduates, and the best way to achieve this does not lie in allowing classrooms to become pulpits.

News editor Melanie Cruthirds for the editorial board.