WASHINGTON, DC — A fast-growing petition has been launched on Change.org on behalf of Danielle Powell, an undergraduate student who was expelled from Grace University in Omaha, Nebraska, because she is gay just one semester shy of graduation. The school also revoked Powell's scholarships and is now forcing her to repay $6,000 in tuition for the final semester that she was never allowed to complete.
Powell's wife, Michelle Rogers, says she started the Change.org petition after the school refused to transfer Danielle's transcripts to another university until she pays the outstanding tuition, effectively blocking her from acheiving her dream of becoming the first person in her family to graduate from college.
"I started this petition to demand justice for my wife and to shed light on Grace University's discriminatory disciplinary system. Depriving a student of an education and financial aid because they are in a same-sex relationship is bullying at its finest," said Rogers, who launched the campaign on Change.org . "Furthermore, it's unconscionable that they would then charge $6,000 dollars after rescinding her earned scholarship. We have experienced too much shame and rejection from an institution who claims to operate out of 'Grace.'"
New signatures on Rogers' petition are sent via email to Michael James, the executive vice president of Grace University. At the time of Powell's expulsion, Rogers said Danielle was being removed from school because the University couldn't affirm her 'moral' character.
"It would be impossible for the faculty of Grace University to affirm your Christian character, a requirement for degree conferral," James said in an email to Powell. He stated in another email to Powell that her scholarships were being revoked because she failed to contribute something "unique" to the student body.
Powell, who played on the school's volleyball team for three years and started an on-campus homeless outreach program, says both actions were painful expressions of anti-gay discrimination by an institution she loved.
"My faith has always been a very foundational part of who I am, so when Grace University expelled me for loving someone, I felt deeply devastated and abandoned," said Powell, whose partner started the Change.org petition on her behalf. "Watching Michelle passionately pursue this cause has only further affirmed my love and admiration of her. It has also been a crucial reminder of how our individual struggles are all a part of a bigger picture. Hopefully, this petition will be a catalyst for institutional change and an opportunity for Grace to reconcile their name with their actions."
Just days before Rogers launched her petition on Change.org, which over 10,000 people have signed onto so far, a video of the couple getting engaged onstage at a Macklemore concert in December went viral: http://bit.ly/16OlVAp.
Live signature totals from Michelle's petition:
www.change.org/GraceForDanielle .
