SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah agreed yesterday to let students opt out of activities that conflict with their religious beliefs, settling a lawsuit brought by a Mormon drama student who refused to recite lines that contained the F-word and took the Lord’s name in vain.

Christina Axson-Flynn, 24, had sued the university in federal court, accusing it of violating her to right to freedom of speech and religion.

She said that after refusing to recite the lines in an acting class during the 1998-99 school year, she feared theater department professors would retaliate against her, so she withdrew from the university.

The university has maintained that it made efforts to accommodate Axson-Flynn, including allowing her to change the texts of an in-class exercise. The settlement spells out at length that neither party acknowledges fault in the dispute.

The settlement forces the university to write and implement a religious accommodation policy for all departments that will formalize the process of opting out of exercises because of religious beliefs. A professor, dean or university vice president ultimately can approve or reject a student’s request.

University officials said they’ve dealt similarly, but informally, with student religious concerns in the past. The lawsuit will solidify the complaint process and keep everything on the books.

At a news conference yesterday, Axson-Flynn’s attorney James McConkie and University of Utah attorney John Morris said the sides continued to disagree on the circumstances surrounding Axson-Flynn’s exit, but both felt the settlement was a positive change for the future.

“We know that this dispute has been difficult for everyone involved, and we’re very pleased that it’s now settled,” Morris said.

Axson-Flynn said she was happy with the settlement, because it “accomplishes everything I set out to do when I started this whole process.”

“This has changed the world, if even in a small way.”

Axson-Flynn will also be reimbursed for $3,000 to $4,000 in tuition expenses and allowed to return to the school, though she said she would attend college somewhere else.

Axson-Flynn, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, claimed the university violated her freedoms of speech and religion and she feared retaliation from professors for not reciting lines that offended her.

The settlement came a day before further legal action in the case was scheduled. A lower court ruling dismissing the case was reversed in February by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which remanded the case to trial.

In 2001, U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell threw out Axson-Flynn’s lawsuit, saying the offending words were part of a drama curriculum that did not take a position on religion and required the use of profane language only as an academic exercise.

McConkie said the two sides had been working on the settlement for about two months.

Axson-Flynn said she still wanted to pursue acting, and didn’t think she would have trouble in the industry because of her beliefs. She said both her mother, a stage actress, and her father, who has acted in films, have been able to make it.

“I wouldn’t have a hard time at all making a career in acting holding to morals, no matter what those morals were,” she said.