Court Upholds Colorado Discrimination Against Students at Religious College
A U.S. District Court has held that Colorado officials did not violate the Constitution by denying state student aid to students attending Colorado Christian University.
The State of Colorado has created a number of student aid programs. Students are free to direct their aid to any institution of higher education in the state, as long as the college or university is not "pervasively sectarian."
The Colorado Commission on Higher Education concluded that Colorado Christian University was "pervasively sectarian" and thus that its students were ineligible for state aid.
Represented by the CLS Center, CCU challenged the statutory exclusions in a federal civil rights lawsuit. The court ruled against CCU on May 18, 2007. The ruling is subject to an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Southern Illinois University Settles Lawsuit with CLS Chapter
Attorneys with the CLS Center and the Alliance Defense Fund reached a settlement last week with Southern Illinois University officials on behalf of the Christian Legal Society student chapter at SIU. Under the settlement, SIU officials affirmed that CLS's long-standing membership and leadership policies are now acceptable to the university, which allows CLS to be officially recognized.
SIU also agreed to establish a $10,000 scholarship fund, which CLS will administer, for deserving SIU law students. A copy of the settlement agreement can be viewed at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/CLS-SIUsettlement.pdf.
CLS Center and ADF attorneys filed the case (Christian Legal Society at Southern Illinois University School of Law v. Walker) in April 2005 after SIU revoked the chapter's registration and all of the associated benefits, stating that CLS's "Statement of Faith" and sexual morality policy for its voting members and leaders violated a university affirmative action policy prohibiting discrimination on the basis of religion and "sexual orientation."
In July 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit required the school to recognize the chapter while the case was pending. The court ruled that the CLS chapter was likely to succeed on its claims that SIU violated the chapter's freedom of association and freedom of speech rights and that CLS's policy prohibiting members from engaging in sexual conduct outside of marriage is not "sexual orientation" discrimination (www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx? cid=3798).
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