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OGDEN, Utah (AP) -- Weber State trustees have amended the university's professional ethics policy to deal with the possibility of some students finding certain course material offensive.
The policy approved Tuesday is intended to keep students from being surprised by the content and provide avenues for them to resolve conflicts.
The action comes after former University of Utah student Christina Axson-Flynn sued after she refused to recite lines having profanities during an in-class drama performance. The lawsuit was settled in 2004 and the University of Utah implemented an accommodation policy last year.
"This will hopefully avoid any problems like that," said WSU trustee Kathryn Lindquist.
WSU's accommodation policy states that if there is a conflict between a student's core beliefs and the course requirements, a student may request a resolution of such a conflict.
It says the instructor is not required to provide alternative requirements or modify the course content as long as the requirements have legitimate educational goals. However, the teacher is required to grant such a resolution if denial of the request would be arbitrary and capricious or illegal.
The accommodation policy requires faculty to disclose the class content at the beginning of the course -- for example, by having the student review the text, Lindquist said.
"If it's going to be too much for them, they can withdraw from the course or they can ask for some kind of special provision to be made," she said.
Lindquist, who taught at the University of Utah from 1984 to 2001, recalls an incident in her Western civilization class. The students were assigned to read the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Beloved," by Toni Morrison, which is about black slavery. A male student got halfway through the book and refused to finish it because of a rape scene.
"I told him that was his prerogative," Lindquist said.
She said the action didn't affect his grade. The students were supposed to use the book to express their views in writing.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
