The Center for Law & Religious Freedom

Other Religious Groups Have Faced Similar Threats from Other Universities

While CLS is the only student group Hastings has derecognized, other religious student groups have faced similar threats of derecognition from other universities:

The Muslim Student Association at Louisiana State University was derecognized in 2003 after thirty years on that campus. LSU required all groups to place a nondiscrimination policy regarding religion and sexual orientation in the groups’ constitutions, which the Muslim group refused to do because of its religious beliefs. Press Release, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Victory for Religious Freedom at Louisiana State University (Mar. 17, 38 2005).
 
Beta Upsilon Chi, a Chrisitan student group, won recognition at the University of Florida after appealing to the federal Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Beta Upsilon Chi v. Machen,  586 F.3d 908 (2009).  BYX was also forced to litigate after the University of Georgia denied it recognition on the ground that the Christian group required its officers and members to agree with its core religious viewpoints. Beta Upsilon Chi v. Adams, No. 06-104 (M.D. Ga. 2006). BYX has experienced recognition threats at Louisiana State University, Auburn University, and the University of Missouri.
 
ReJOYce in Jesus Campus Fellowship was threatened with denial of recognition by Georgia Institute of Technology because the group required its voting members to affirm its statement of faith.  The Georgia Attorney General issued an opinion that the university’s failure to recognize the religious student group violated its free speech rights. Ga. Op. Att’y Gen. 97-32 (1997).  The group experienced a similar problem at the University of California, Berkeley.
 
DiscipleMakers Christian Fellowship was forced to file suit against Pennsylvania State University after university officials insisted that the group discriminated on the basis of religion in officer positions. In settlement, the university agreed to exempt religious groups from the nondiscrimination requirement. 
 
The Christian Medical and Dental Association (“CMDA”) chapter at the University of North Dakota was threatened with derecognition by the student government because CMDA requires its officers to share its religious viewpoints. CMDA also encountered problems at the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and at Virginia Tech.