The U.S. Supreme Court today upheld a California public law school’s policy of denying official recognition to student groups with membership rules it regards as discriminatory. In a 5-to-4 decision, the court’s liberal wing was joined by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy in holding that the law school’s requirement that student groups accept all comers — and not reject people from membership based on their beliefs — is reasonable and viewpoint neutral, and therefore does not conflict with the First Amendment. The case at issue stemmed from a lawsuit brought against the University of California’s Hastings College of Law by the Christian Legal Society, which argued that the law school’s policy infringed on the First Amendment rights of religious groups that wanted to ensure members shared their beliefs.
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4 Responses to Supreme Court Rules for Law School in Case Over Christian Student Group
jc1968 - June 28, 2010 at 12:43 pm
This is chilling and dangerous.This now opens the gates to minority opinions, expressed through a group organization, being limited if not out-right banned on a campus.For those who would applaud this ruling keep in mind the very real results that are now a possiblity. Imagine, a group of single-ethnicity students joining another organization that is smnaller and populated by a different ethnic group. This would allow the larger to vote into leadership positions members who follow their single-ethnicity beliefs and change the make-up of the organization as well as direction of the second group. Thereby, silencing a ‘minority’ voice on campus.According to the ruling, that is exactly what is now acceptable and is now also the law of the U.S.So much for those pesky liberties and rights.
rhancuff - June 28, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Here’s a question for the Chronicle blurb writer: did the Supreme Court say groups needed to “accept all comers” or did it say more narrowly that groups can’t “reject people from membership based on their beliefs”? There’s a signficant difference, and it might help out jc1968 who seems to think that ethnicity = belief.
_perplexed_ - June 28, 2010 at 2:30 pm
There is a simple remedy for any organization that fears victimization of the kind envisioned by jc1968: Don’t become an officially recognized student organization and forgo university funding. Apparently jc1968 believes students must be required to subsidize groups that won’t permit them as members.
reissval - June 29, 2010 at 12:30 pm
On most campuses, being recognized as an official student group by the university isn’t required to actually be a student group on campus. At Texas A&M University, for example, only about half of the student organizations I’ve been involved with were officially recognized. The one that I currently advise decided to forgo the recognition process to keep their accounting with their sponsor department rather than university accounting. The group can still hold meetings and do advertising on campus without any problems. Our university has the same policy about organizations that have member policies based on age, race, religion, etc. You can have a theme to your organization, but if you limit who can join, then you forfit those extra university benefits.