Delaware State University volleyball player Natalia Mendieta is suing the college, the volleyball coach, and the school’s athletic director “alleging they violated the First Amendment by requiring religious activities at a publicly funded university.”
Mendieta claims she lost her scholarship because she objected to her coach, LaKisya Killingsworth, “requir[ing] church attendance and participation in Bible studies.”
In addition, the suit alleges that “church” was on the volleyball team’s schedule “next to practices, matches and tournaments.”
David Finger, an attorney representing Mendieta, said she wants to return to DSU in the fall but the lack of a scholarship is making it difficult for her to afford it.
“Ms. Mendieta believed that her relationship with Coach Killingsworth would suffer if she refused to attend the coach’s church and, if she did, she would receive less playing time and her scholarship might not be renewed for the following year,” the lawsuit says. “Therefore, with great reluctance, Ms. Mendieta attended services at Calvary with Coach Killingsworth and the rest of the team during preseason.”
In addition to requiring student/athletes to attend church, the lawsuit claims Killingsworth had the team pray before each match, distributed Bibles to the team and “strongly encouraged” players to join the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and attend Bible studies hosted by the group.
On March 24, Mendieta sent Killingsworth a letter voicing concerns about the mandatory church attendance and stopped attending Calvary.
The lawsuit says Killingsworth told her that she didn’t care which church she went to. But it says the coach started to avoid speaking with Mendieta and became hostile.
In the spring of last year, another student complained about Killingsworth’s “emphasis on religion,” and quit the squad. Then, the coach “began looking for excuses to kick [Mendieta] off the team” in the fall, the suit asserts.
DSU says that Killingsworth has left the university to “take another post elsewhere,” and Athletic Director Candy Young took a new position in the college’s student affairs division.
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