Key Activities
The dormitory admission pledge provides that residents faithfully attend chapel services, be
warned if they don’t attend a service for the third time, be counseled if they don’t attend for the
fourth time, and be evicted if they don’t attend for the fifth time, and raise no objection even if readmission is denied.
The Commission acknowledged the fact that the mission of the university is to foster ministers
and church leaders in the Christian faith. However, it concluded that it is an unjustified act of
discrimination against non-Christian students to force them to the pledge, even though most
departments are open to non-Christian students and the dormitory is open to all enrolled students
who have paid the admission fee, and not a facility dedicated to fostering religious persons. It
also concluded that evicting dorm residents who fail to attend early-morning chapel service is
excessive.
The university announced the position that the recommendation cannot be accepted because of
the freedom of religion and its founding principles as an agent of religious education. It would,
however, develop considerations for students who cannot comply with the dormitory rules for
some unavoidable reasons.
Certain religious believers limited in taking a national license exam administered on
a Saturday
On November 25, the Commission recommended the director of the Licensing Examination
Institute to make the national semiannual nurse aide exams available on different days of the week.
The victim, a believer of a religious group that disallows secular activities from sunset on Friday
to sunset on Saturday, petitioned that it is impossible for her to take the national nurse aide exam
as it is always administered on a Saturday.
The Commission concluded that administration of national certification and licensing exams
on certain day(s) of the week is an indirect discrimination because, though it may seem equal as
it applies the same for all religious believers and non-believers alike, it can have disadvantageous
effects on certain religious believers. Also, because the disadvantage can be significant for the
victim as she has to give up becoming a nurse aide as she cannot take the exam unless she gives
up her religious faith, it concluded that it is necessary to make one of the two annual exams to be
administered on a different day of the week.
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