GREENVILLE, NC – We’ve gotten used to seeing celebrities thank god when accepting awards.
But some graduating seniors at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, will have to leave God at home.
Word has leaked out that Eli Hvastkovs, an assistant professor of chemistry sent an email to students planning to attend the department’s graduation ceremony telling them they had to submit their written statement to him in advance.
Number one on his list of things they couldn’t do was thank God. “You can’t thank God,” he wrote, adding that he didn’t have to explain why.
University administrators quickly distanced the school from the controversy, noting that banning god is not an official school policy, and is a violation of the constitutional right to free speech.
They even took a line from Star Wars. The First Amendment, the university said, allows the students to thank god or any force they so desire.
Apparently a dark lord is no match for an East Carolina Pirate, arrrr.
