Student Sues Over Lost Scholarship Washington’S Promise Funds Pulled After He Declares A Theology Major

Spokane’s Joshua Davey had a lot going for him when he set off for college last fall.

He’s among the brightest of teenagers, and he already knew his life’s goal: to serve in the ministry.

Now Davey has another distinction.

At 19, he is suing the state for religious discrimination because his Washington’s Promise Scholarship was yanked.

The scholarships, created last year by Gov. Gary Locke, are intended to help the top 10 percent of Washington’s high school students with college expenses.

Davey lost his scholarship because the state doesn’t allow financial aid for students who are theology majors. His lawsuit, filed last month in federal court in Seattle, argues that the state is violating his rights under the U.S. and state constitutions.

Northwest College in Kirkland, where Davey is pursuing a double major in business administration and pastoral ministries, actually received a $1,125 state check for Davey’s scholarship in October. Several days later, another letter said the scholarship was being withdrawn because of his theology major.

“No other category of student speech has been designated as impossible to study,” said attorney Kevin Theriot of the American Center for Law and Justice. “It’s an egregious form of discrimination.”

The Virginia-based center is representing Davey at no cost. It specializes in religious liberties cases.

Davey and his family are not talking to reporters about the suit, but those who know the University High School graduate speak highly of him.

“He’s just top drawer,” said Don Argue, president of Northwest College, which is affiliated with the Assembly of God church.

“His professors say he’s No. 1 in some of his classes.”

That’s no surprise. Davey was a valedictorian at U-Hi last spring, and earned a perfect 800 on the verbal section of the SAT.

“He’s a young man of real character,” said Craig Holmes, chairman of the Central Valley School Board. Holmes, a former Baptist minister, was reflecting on the fact that Davey could have retained the Promise Scholarship if only he’d dropped his ministry major.

It’s unusual for a freshman to choose a major, said Argue and others.

“He didn’t have to designate a major as a freshman,” said Howard Fischer, an assistant state attorney general. “But he did have to, in order to set up this lawsuit. There is no lawsuit without the major.”

Fischer represents the state Higher Education Board, which administers the Promise Scholarship program.

Davey’s case is unusual for two reasons. First, he was in the first crop of Washington’s Promise Scholarship recipients. In an apparent oversight, the initial application for the scholarships made no mention of restricting the scholarship from theology majors. This year’s scholarship application does include the restriction.

Second, most college students do not select their majors as freshmen. That, too, could change, though.

“The federal government is urging institutions to become more accountable” for financial aid, said Thayne McCulloh, dean of financial aid at Gonzaga University. One possible result “is that we may actually require students to declare majors earlier.”

That, in turn, could make Davey’s situation more common.

The state’s policy of refusing financial aid to theology students is not new. Due to separation of church and state issues, a 30-year-old law specifies that financial aid goes not to the college, but to the student - except for students pursuing theology degrees.

Another lawsuit, now before the state Supreme Court, is also testing the state’s separation of church and state. A Washington State University professor and the American Civil Liberties Union sued the state in 1995, over sending state Educational Opportunity Grants to students attending church-related schools. A Thurston County judge ruled last May in favor of the ACLU. An association representing the colleges, including Gonzaga and Whitworth College, has appealed the decision.

The private colleges argued that the religious studies classes that they require for all students “are not intended to indoctrinate in the beliefs of the particular faith,” Fischer said. “They tend to be largely historical in nature.”

“The individual states, as they drew constitutions on their way westward, enacted different constitutional provisions. Washington has a particularly high firewall between church and state,” Fischer said.

The Washington Constitution states: “No public money shall be appropriated for any religious worship, exercise or instruction.”

“If that state constitution does in fact require greater separation of church and state than the federal constitution, fine,” said Theriot. “They can do so up and to the point that it doesn’t infringe on federal rights. You can’t use the state constitution to trample on someone’s federal rights.”