Funding Discrimination? Using Dual Enrollment to Pay for Evangelical Christian Higher Education

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Fifteen
  In Roundtable Session: Families, Parents, and Youth Navigating School Choice and Educational Reforms (Table 3)

Abstract

This paper studies the ways that the dual enrollment educational policy in Ohio funds private religious education. I ask one research question: Does Ohio dual enrollment policy allow schools to engage in religious proselytization and LGBTQ discrimination? If so, what are the mechanisms through which this occurs? Using discourse analysis, findings reveal that four private evangelical Christian universities in Ohio use DE funding to proselytize a Christian/biblical worldview that discriminates against LGBTQ students. Findings consist of three themes: 1. Marketization: Universities market DE programs 2. Proselytization: Even when courses are not religious in nature, like mathematics and history, a Christian/biblical worldview is employed in the curriculum and coursework. 3. Anti-LGBTQ: IHEs discriminate against LGBTQ students in various ways.

Author

• Dustin Hornbeck, University of Memphis
  Presenting Author