FEATURED
Bill has support from Christian, Jewish, Muslim and First Amendment organizations
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce recently advanced legislation that would strip public universities of funding if they deny religious student groups the same access and recognition afforded other campus groups.
The “Equal Campus Access Act” states public universities will be denied funds if they refuse a religious student organization “any right, benefit, or privilege that is otherwise afforded to other student organizations at the institution,” such as official recognition or full access to facilities.
“This bill ensures religious student organizations maintain full access to campus facilities and official recognition regardless of their beliefs, practices, speech, leadership standards, or standards of conduct,” Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, a Republican from Michigan who co-sponsored the legislation, told The College Fix in a prepared statement.
The act, which has a companion bill in the Senate, comes in response “to incidents on college campuses where religious student organizations lost rights, benefits, and privileges due to faith-based practices,” according to Walberg’s office.
The bill has bipartisan support from 47 faith-based and First Amendment organizations that represent Evangelical, Catholic, Mormon, Jewish, Muslim and other faiths.
“Faith-based student organizations should not face discrimination on college campuses solely because they require their leaders to agree with their core religious beliefs,” the groups stated in a co-signed letter published after the legislation was introduced last fall.
Michael Hurley, government affairs counsel for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said FIRE would prefer the bill apply more broadly to all belief-based student organizations.
“We would have it apply not just to religious student organizations, but also to belief-based student organizations more broadly, including other political and ideological groups such as College Republicans or College Democrats,” Hurley told The College Fix. “The reason for that is that the underlying freedom of association issue applies to all groups.”
However, there is some good to the effort, Hurley said, noting many colleges maintain “all-comers” policies, citing the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, in which the court upheld a public law school’s requirement that student groups accept all students regardless of status or beliefs.
But critics argue that the ruling does not allow student groups to maintain their identity, message, or mission, if they are forced to accept members or leaders who actively disagree with or oppose their core beliefs.
Hurley said the Equal Campus Access Act would help remedy what he considers a mistake in the court’s ruling: “The problem for religious groups or other belief-based groups is [all-comers policies] may require them to accept members, including voting members and leaders, who do not actually share the beliefs of the group. That undermines the whole purpose of freedom of association.”
“Religious student organizations organize together to have an association that shares a particular religious viewpoint,” Hurley added. “That purpose is defeated if a lot of the members do not share or are hostile toward that viewpoint.”
Lori Kepner, senior counsel for the Christian Legal Society, told The College Fix that act addresses “the persistent, nationwide problem of religious student groups being excluded because of their religious speech, religious beliefs and religious leadership standards.”
“It is common sense for religious student organizations to want leaders who agree with their religious beliefs so they can lead others in practicing their religion of choice, leading to a more meaningful and robust religious diversity on campus,” she said via email.
The Equal Campus Access Act was one of 11 recent bills approved by the House Education and Workforce Committee, alongside legislation addressing topics including antisemitism and student protections.
“The bills approved today tackle real challenges facing students, workers, job creators, and taxpayers,” Chairman Walberg stated in a June 25 news release. “They strengthen accountability, expand opportunity, and help restore trust in our institutions.”
