The lawsuit cited UC's refusal to grant Calvary students admissions credit for "Christianity and Morality in American Literature; "Christianity's Influence in America" (a history course); and a government class titled "Special Providence: Christianity and the American Republic."

The university maintains the UC "must be able to reject high school courses that offer more religious than academic content or that do not meet its standards," the Times' report said.

UC officials denied admissions credit after reviewing textbooks for the disputed courses. The school and ACSI filed suit when meetings between UC admissions officials and representatives from the school, ACSI, and the Christian Law Association failed to resolve the matter to the plaintiffs' satisfaction.

According to the ACSI website, the plaintiffs are represented by the law firm of Bird & Loechl, Atlanta, as well as by the Southern California public interest law firm Advocates for Faith and Freedom, recently founded by Robert Tyler, a former staffer for the Alliance Defense Fund.

The Times also reported that counsel for the UC "said the judge appeared to be leaning toward granting a UC motion to dismiss one claim in the case." The judge noted that other religious schools had not joined Calvary's suit.

The University of California accepts the top 12.5 percent of the state's high school graduates. Five of its 10 campuses are listed among the top 50 universities by US News & World Reports. The UC's 208,000 undergraduates pay about $5400 a year for their education.