Update to this story:

Via Campus Reform:

A professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley was forced to remove an injunction against saying “God bless you” from a course syllabus in the face of student outrage.

The syllabus, images of which went viral on social media last week, instructed students to “Please refrain from saying, ‘God bless you’ during the classes and exams,” according to CBS affiliate KGBT.

The report did not identify the professor, though references to “data sets” in the syllabus image suggest the course may have been related to statistics. […]

 

The statement was removed from the syllabus after university officials contacted the professor about it, but a statement issued by UTRGV sought to defend the professor’s actions, saying the offending provision was not intended to restrict students’ freedoms, but merely to combat potential classroom distractions.

“The professor’s syllabus sought to identify examples of potentially disruptive behavior the professor believed could hinder the classroom learning environment, including use of cellphones,” the school explained. “The intent was not to limit the religious freedoms of UTRGV students, but to avoid unsolicited comments that might distract others.”