University of King's College - case study

In In the summer of 1994, the College moved into its first permanent campus. In November of that year, the Alberta legislature approved the bill changing the College's name to The King's University College

King's partners with other Canadian organizations to provide education opportunities to students. Most notably, in 2011 The King’s Environmental Studies  Program was granted professional accreditation from Environmental Careers Organization ECO Canada, the certifying body of the Canadian Environmental Accreditation Commission (CEAC).In 2013 King’s signed an agreement with Newman Theological College to offer Bachelor of Education students the religious education courses necessary to be eligible for a continuous contract with Edmonton Catholic School District.

In 2013, King's inaugurated fourth President Dr. Melanie J. Humphreys. Dr. Humphreys took office on  2013 after the retirement of President Emeritus Dr. J Harry Fernhout (2013). Dr. Fernhout was preceded by Dr. Henk Van Andel (2005) and founding President Dr. Sidney DeWaal (1983)

In the early 1990s, The King's University drew attention due to a controversial decision to fire an employee (Delwin Vriend, a lab assistant) because he was gay. Since the Alberta Individual Rights Protection Act did not cover discrimination based on sexual orientation, the Human Rights Commission did not want to investigate it. The employee, however, took his case to court, which decided in 1994 that sexual orientation should be added to the act, a decision appealed by the government and overturned in 1996. But Vriend v. Alberta, brought before the Supreme Court of Canada in 1997 and decided in 1998, with the unanimous decision that "the exclusion of homosexuals from Alberta's Individual Rights Protection Act is a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms".