A federal appeals court ordered the University of Florida on Wednesday to recognize a Christian fraternity while a trial court hears the group’s lawsuit over the university’s decision to deny it official recognition, according to The Independent Florida Alligator, the campus’s student newspaper.
The university has refused to recognize the fraternity, Beta Upsilon Chi, as an official student group because its requirement that members be Christians violates the university’s policy on religious discrimination.
The fraternity sued the university in July 2007. After the trial court denied the group’s request for a preliminary injunction, which would require the university to recognize it while the case proceeds, the fraternity appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. That court issued the order on Wednesday to the university.
The fraternity is being represented by the Christian Legal Society and the Alliance Defense Fund, which have handled similar cases. —Beckie Supiano
