Eight months after being expelled from Penn State's doctoral program in counseling psychology, Rev. David Code has served the university with a Human Relations Commission complaint alleging that religious discrimination was a factor in his dismissal.

"I would make it very clear that the university doesn't discriminate ... " said Bill Mahon, Penn State's vice president for university relations. "We will defend the university aggressively."

Code, an Episcopalian minister, said faculty and fellow students relied on his status as a pastor to accuse him of homophobia, pedophilia and practicing psychology without a license.

"I had the sense of David going up against Goliath, and I found it ironic that the burden of proof

was constantly on me, even after all of the crazy things that had been done to me," Code said. "The overwhelming sense that I had when I was in the program was that I could do no right."

In his complaint, Code says fellow student Michael Shapiro's (graduate-counseling psychology) comments on a YouTube.com video implied he was "a child-molesting clergyman."

A contact for Shapiro was not available as of press time yesterday.

Code enrolled in the doctoral program in September 2006. He said harassment began one month later, when Susan Woodhouse, a professor of counseling psychology, asked him to take down his personal Web site, www.davidarthurcode.com, and accused him of "practicing psychology without a license."

Woodhouse then asked him to write a 20-page paper explaining what was "wrong" with his Web site, Code said.

Code said the paper he wrote, which cited a Pennsylvania law that provides clergy an exemption to practice psychology without a license, was dismissed as "justification" by Woodhouse.

Woodhouse said she was not aware of the complaint and declined to comment on Code.

On or about Dec. 19, 2006, Code said he was placed on academic probation even after a "straight-A first semester."

Four days into his academic probation, Woodhouse e-mailed Code his Web site explanation paper, on which she had reportedly given a C+ grade.

In his complaint, Code also accused Woodhouse's supervisor, Kathleen Bieschke, the head of the counseling psychology program, of stereotyping him as a "homophobic minister of the Christian right" and accused him of saying "all pro-gay Christians are promiscuous."

Bieschke declined to comment on the allegations.

Code, who said he is pro-gay rights, denied these allegations and said it "shows tremendous disrespect to my brother's memory to accuse me of anything like homophobia."

Code said his brother, who was gay, died of AIDS.

Code said he investigated taking a leave of absence in February 2007 but was told by university officials that he would lose his university housing in the White Course Apartments, health insurance and stipend if he took one.

Code said he then stopped going to classes, citing post-traumatic stress disorder and gaslighting, a psychological phenomenon that causes sufferers to question themselves and their surroundings.

Code said he is seeking a written apology from each faculty member and student who harassed him.

"I want religious discrimination to be taken as seriously as discrimination based on race, gender or sexual discrimination," he said.

Code, who plans to represent himself because he cannot afford a lawyer, said he intends to seek financial compensation for lost potential income from counseling but is unsure of the process.

"I can't transfer to another psychology program because the counseling psychology handbook says they will not pass along students with issues or problems," Code said. "My counseling career is over."