California Universities' admission standards and Christian Schools

About a month ago, I blogged about a brewing dispute over the alleged refusal by admissions officials at California's public universities to certify several of a Christian school's courses on literature, history, social studies, and science.  Last week, another detailed news story on the dispute ran in the San Francisco Chronicle.  Bottom line -- it appears we have a lawsuit:

In a small room at the University of California's headquarters in downtown Oakland, UC counsel Christopher Patti sat beside a stack of textbooks proposed for use by Calvary Chapel Christian School in Riverside County -- books UC rejected as failing to meet freshmen admission requirements.

Biology and physics textbooks from Christian publishers were found wanting, as were three Calvary humanities courses.

"The university is not telling these schools what they can and can't teach," Patti said. "What the university is doing is simply establishing what is and is not its entrance requirements. It's really a case of the university's ability to set its own admission standards. The university has no quarrel with Christian schools."

The Association of Christian Schools International, which claims 4,000 member schools including Calvary Chapel and 800 other schools in California, disagrees. On Aug. 24, it sued the university in federal court for religious bias.

The lawsuit marks a new front in America's culture wars, in which the largest organization of Christian schools in the country and the University of California, which admitted 50,017 freshmen this year, are accusing each other of trying to abridge or constrain each others' freedom. . . .

Among the courses turned down were a history class, "Christianity's Influence on America"; a social studies class, "Special Providence: Christianity and the American Republic"; and, most contentiously, an English course, "Christianity and Morality in American Literature."  None is being taught because of the dispute. . . .

Now, it is interesting to note -- particularly in light of the recent "intelligent design" ruling -- that:

Unlike recent court cases -- such as the challenge to the school district's decision in Dover, Pa., to teach intelligent design . . . -- the suit against UC does not pit Darwinism against creationism and its intellectual offspring. Rather, by focusing on courses that Calvary Chapel planned to offer this fall -- in English, history and social studies -- courses that were turned down by UC, it sets competing interpretations of academic merit against each other.