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My senior year of college, some friends and I decided to spend one Friday evening hanging out, playing cards and having a beer or two. As we sat on couches in one of the guy’s rooms, we heard a knock at the door. It was campus security acting on a tip that there was alcohol in the room. We were each written up for the violation. If it happened again, we would appear before the board for disciplinary action including possible expulsion. Everyone in the room was twenty-one years old–the legal drinking age–so what was the problem? Ours was a private, Christian college, with a strict “dry campus” policy. No alcohol, period, or there would be repercussions.

We did not object to the campus police searching the room. We did not object to being written up and having that information placed in our records. We didn’t object because the policy was made clear to us before we ever began our freshman year at the college. It was in the handbook, it was mentioned at the initial orientation and it was posted on campus for all to see. It was a restriction we didn’t have to deal with in “the real world”; we could have gone a half-mile off campus to a local restaurant or bar and had those same beers with no repercussions. But we didn’t. We chose poorly. Let me repeat that. We chose poorly. The consequences were entirely appropriate and the result of our actions.

Why do I mention this incident from my own college years? Recently, a news story has been making the rounds (including this story at Huffington Post and another in local news) concerning a student removed from Grace University, a college here in Omaha. This student, Danielle Powell, broke a rule that was clearly outlined by the college and communicated to all incoming students before they enrolled. Powell was initially disciplined for violating university policy, and given an opportunity to be reinstated. However, she chose to continue breaking the rule, and was thus not allowed to return to the college. This makes total sense; she chose not to honor the policy, so she was not allowed to continue her education at that particular institution.

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So, why is this news? Because the student in question is a lesbian, the school in question is a private Christian college and the policy is one that prohibits sexual activity. Powell states she did not identify as a lesbian when she first enrolled at Grace and that she didn’t discover her sexual identity until she had been a student for some time. Still, I would argue that once she realized she was a lesbian, she could have transferred to another college at the end of a semester, avoiding the problems that ensued when she was expelled. Just as I had the choice to attend a school without a dry campus policy, Powell had the choice to attend a school that did not have policies against engaging in sexual activity.

In this case, many of the headlines and stories paint the scenario as one where a poor young woman was kicked out of college for “being gay”. Here’s the thing. She was kicked out for engaging in activity that broke university policy. That could be construed as discriminatory, if the same policy didn’t apply for heterosexuals–I have several friends and former students who have attended Grace and assure me that the policy is enforced for students of all sexual orientations.

Sexual identification and activity are two different things. For example, I identify as heterosexual, but haven’t engaged in sexual activity since my divorce. I couldn’t be kicked out of the college for merely being straight, but I could for violating the school’s rules. Per the Grace University handbook: “Students should be discreet regarding physical contact both in private and in public. The following physical contact is prohibited in public for all students:

– placing one’s hand on another’s leg

– placing one’s head on another’s chest

– extended holding or embracing one another

– lying next to one another

– sitting on or lying across another’s lap

– kissing

– giving backrubs/rubbing shoulders”

More specifically regarding sexual activity: “Outside of heterosexual marriage, interpersonal sexual activity in all of its forms is sin according to God’s Word. Any student involved in sexually immoral behavior, including premarital sex, adultery, and homosexual acts, is at minimum placed on University Probation and may be subject to a Judiciary Hearing”.

Some would find these rules antiquated and prudish; that’s fine. They can choose not to attend Grace University. If you have a problem with the rules or with your ability to follow them, then choose to enroll in a different school–don’t enroll, willfully break the rules and then complain when you are disciplined.

Per the handbook, engaging in homosexual activity falls under the “Level 3 Violation” category, along with such things as engaging in sexual activities outside of marriage, violating the drug/alcohol policy, using fireworks (illegal in Nebraska), stealing, or illegally downloading music or other copyrighted materials. Students who commit Level 3 violations are placed on University Probation. If, “after having been extended grace a first time” a student fails to “modify one’s behavior and/or fully comply with the probationary conditions laid out by the SFJC or Student Deans, it positions that student for possible suspension or dismissal from the University”.

Equality includes equal consequences for all who break the rules

The fallout for Powell continues. Due to the disciplinary action, she left school early. Federal law obligates Grace to return Title IV funds (federal grants, loans and work-study funds) on behalf of students who withdraw prior to completing 60 percent of the semester. Because Powell lost her financial assistance, she is now responsible for that tuition herself, amounting to just over six thousand dollars. Since leaving Grace, Powell has married, and her wife has launched a petition calling for Grace to forgive the debt. Again, why would they forgive the debt when Powell is the one who made a poor decision?

Every year, students are removed from various college and university programs because they have violated one policy or another. Why is this story different? Because the student who broke the rule was a lesbian? Because the university in question is a Christian university? The left-wing   media loves any opportunity to bash Christian schools, businesses or organizations for being discriminatory, but this is not a case of discrimination. Rules are rules. You choose to break them, you choose the consequences. At the majority of colleges/universities, students would not be disciplined for having a sexual relationship, gay or straight. Powell, like all other students, was free to choose a university with a different set of rules. She didn’t, by choice, and thus she chose her consequences.   As mentioned above, Grace and many other faith-based universities have policies that prohibit any of their students from engaging in sexual activity, whether gay or straight. In fact, BYU made some waves back in 2011 for suspending a top player on their basketball team (at the time they were the third best team in the nation preparing for the NCAA Tournament) for having premarital sex–for the record, he was straight.

I realize that for some readers it will come across that I dislike gay people, but of course that is not my point at all. My point is, private colleges are allowed to have their own rules for admission and should have the freedom to enforce those rules (my libertarian streak showing here). This freedom is constitutionally protected, allowing them to practice their religion as they see fit free of outside interference.   It’s not about being gay, as the policy applies to students of all sexual orientations.   It’s about breaking an established policy and then complaining that you’ve not been dealt with fairly. At best, Powell is basically saying she committed to attending a college for four years without doing any research into what the college was like (a single campus visit would have shown her many of the things she says she disliked about the school), and that she signed a conduct agreement without actually reading it or realizing what she was signing. The real lesson behind this story is to do your due diligence when choosing a college and, if you don’t, to realize you are the one who made a mistake and are responsible for the outcome.