Professor Hien Van Dong, who teaches the Madison College ethics course titled, "Leadership Principles, Practices and Contemporary Ethical Implications to Develop the Leader within You," is now under academic investigation for claims that he referred to God in class.

According to a current student, Van Dong allegedly “encouraged students to have a personal relationship with a living God.”

The student, a self-described Christian-turned-atheist, also complained that the textbook made him feel uncomfortable because it featured material that pushed necessary belief in a higher power.

"Having a text that pushes that having a higher power is necessary makes anyone who does not have a higher power, thinking that maybe they cannot be ethical, and that’s simply not true,” said Dan Roberts, the student who filed the claim. “And that is very dismissive and uncomfortable."

In response to the claims, the Madison College Provost Turina Bakken said that the college was investigating the professor. "We will take any and all appropriate action of the learning environment for our students, but also to protect our faculty," she said.

Bakken also seemed to imply that the university administration would be open to re-shaping the entire college classroom teaching experience to make things more “comfortable” for the students.

“To this point we have one letter that’s representing the experiences of one student,” she said. “And we will have to let the process play out and do the right thing from there both for the faculty and the student to ensure that going forwards we put forward the most comfortable, effective learning experiences that we can."

Presumably, the provost is implying that the school might go as far as to rule out any mention of God in the classroom, because doing so makes the students feel “uncomfortable.”