Suit Claims College Students Disciplined for Praying

The Pacific Justice Institute announced last week that it had filed a federal lawsuit against the College of Alameda, part of the California state system. The lawsuit claims that two students, Kandy Kyriacou and Ojoma Omaga, received disciplinary letters threatening to suspend them for "disruptive or insulting behavior, willful disobedience . . . persistent abuse of college employees." The suit claims that the disciplinary action stems from an incident last December in which Kyriacou visited an instructor in her office to give her a Christmas present, and found that the instructor was feeling ill. Kyriacou offered to pray for her. The instructor bowed her head, and the student began to pray when another faculty member, Derek Piazza, came in and told her she could not pray there. Kyriacou left and joined her friend, now co-plaintiff, Omaga, followed by Piazza who repeated his warnings to Kyriacou. The lawsuit asks that the disciplinary letters be rescinded.