University Student Expelled for Being Lesbian Must Repay Scholarship

Danielle Powell was kicked out of her ultra religious university in Omaha, Nebraska for being gay in 2012, and now says the only way the school will transfer her credits to another school is if she agrees to pay a tuition bill of $6,300.

Powell was a student at Grace University in early 2011 when she began her first same-sex relationship. The school found out about the relationship through a spiritual adviser at the school (so much for confidentiality), and they brought Powell before a judiciary board.

The university ultimately decided in March 2011 to suspend her and not allow her to finish the semester, and she was told she now owed Grace over $6,000 after an academic scholarship she’d been awarded was revoked. In response, Powell has launched an online petition to pressure the school to forgive the debt.