FEATURED
Alliance Defending Freedom attorney says college was funding Pride Club, but not Christian group
Atlantic Cape Community College recently changed a student club policy that banned funding for religious and political groups after a legal organization called it a violation of students’ First Amendment rights.
The New Jersey public college’s Board of Trustees voted to revise the policy last week, removing the language that prohibited funding for “religious and political” student groups on campus, according to the college website.
The revised policy, adopted Feb. 25, states that all official student organizations may request funding for activities through the Student Government Association.
It also specifies how “religious or political organizations” may use the SGA funds, including for “[e]ducational programs, lectures, panels, or discussions,” guest speakers, and events that are “nonpartisan, educational in nature, and approved in advance pursuant to College and SGA procedures.”
Additionally, the policy outlines what student groups may not use funding for: “[r]eligious worship, devotional exercises, or religious services,” “[p]olitical campaign activities,” and any activities that “exclude participation based on a protected class.”
Previously, the policy stated: “Religious and political groups have the right to organize and be recognized by the SGA. They will have the right to use the name of Atlantic Cape and its facilities but will not receive funds to run their clubs.”
A February letter from the conservative legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of the college’s Christian Club prompted the change. An ADF spokesperson declined to comment Thursday when asked about the revised policy.
Prior to the change, ADF Legal Council Matthew Ray told The College Fix that Atlantic Cape “denied the Christian Club funding simply because it is Christian.”
Ray told The Fix that the college’s “disfavored treatment” of the club constitutes violations of students’ First Amendment rights.
The Atlantic Cape Christian Club exists to “empower disciples to share the love of Jesus Christ, to encourage all people to form a relationship with God, and to connect with one another” through studying the Bible, according to the its website.
In his letter to the community college, Ray stated that last fall, “school officials informed the Christian Club it could not receive funding because it is Christian.”
However, the college “provided funding to Atlantic Cape’s Pride Club, even though that group clearly promotes a political ideology,” Ray wrote.
When asked about the specific violations of withholding funding, Ray told The Fix: “The law has been clear for years that the government cannot exclude religious entities or individuals from generally available funding programs based solely on their religion.
“Similarly, the policy’s denial of funding to political groups flunks the Free Speech Clause’s requirement of viewpoint neutrality in the allocation of funding support for student organizations,” he said.
However, William Donio, legal counsel for the college’s Board of Trustees, contested some of the claims in a response letter to ADF. Donio shared the letter with The College Fix in an email Feb. 17.
“After conferring with the Student Government Association, it has no knowledge or recollection of a formal funding request from the Christian Club that resulted in denial,” Donio wrote.
However, Donio also wrote that college President Barabara Gaba and other leaders were “investigating the language” of the policy and would recommend that the trustees modify it “so that the Christian Club will be able to receive funds in addition to the support it is already receiving.”
Donio did not respond to a follow-up email from The Fix this week seeking comment on the revised policy.
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