A Christian student group at a college in Michigan will not be punished for requiring leaders in the group to agree to a statement of faith.
The group, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Wayne State University, had initially had their official student club status revoked in October 2017 because of the requirement. The college called the group’s policy for leadership positions “discriminatory.”
Without official club recognition status, InterVarsity could not reserve meeting rooms for free or apply for certain campus funding.
The group filed a lawsuit in March 2018 against WSU’s board of governors, board members and administrators. The school then temporarily reinstated the student group but said it still had the right to remove it.
Earlier this month, District Court Judge Robert H. Cleland ruled that the actions of the university “strike at the heart” of the First Amendment and are “obviously odious to the Constitution.”
He wrote in his decision — “The uncontested facts demonstrate that Defendants violated Plaintiffs’ rights to internal management, free speech, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, and free exercise as a matter of law. Defendants also violated the Establishment Clause as a matter of law.”
“No religious group can constitutionally be made an outsider…simply because it insists on religious leaders who believe in its cause.”
In the lawsuit, InterVarsity claimed that other student groups are allowed specific requirements for members.