Some of you may have heard about how some schools in the California State School system are derecognizing their InterVarsity Chapters, including Sonoma State. It is an important and complex situation, so I wanted to keep you all in the loop. My colleague Ryan White recently wrote this up summarizing the situation and I've added an update at the bottom of it.
"Some of you may remember a few years ago when a case called Christian Legal Society v. Martinez was before the US Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision, the court decided that Hastings College of Law in San Francisco had the right to de-recognize CLS, an evangelical campus ministry, because the club had violated the school’s discrimination policy by requiring the club’s leaders to sign a written statement affirming Christian beliefs and committing to live by Christian principles. The Supreme Court did not find this to be an abrogation of the campus ministry’s First Amendment rights to religious freedom and the chapter was de-recognized and kicked off campus.
The California State University system is now feeling the implication of this decision. Prior to his retirement in May 2012, the outgoing CSU Chancellor Charles Reed signed Executive Order 1068, an order intended to ensure non-discrimination in membership and leadership requirements for all CSU campus clubs. Someone within the new chancellor’s office has chosen to strictly enforce EO1068 on all CSU campuses and has pushed a strict no-requirement policy for campus clubs. Since InterVarsity’s constitution requires that student leaders in a chapter “to indicate their agreement with InterVarsity’s Doctrine and Purpose Statements and exemplify Christ-like character, conduct and leadership” by signing a statement of faith, InterVarsity has been targeted in particular. (While this executive order affects all religious organizations on campus as of right now InterVarsity is alone in the crosshairs.)
At the beginning of this year, Fresno State’s InterVarsity chapter was targeted and de-recognized and as of last week InterVarsity groups at the Cal State East Bay, San Marcos, Chico, Long Beach, and Sonoma State were informed that we had two weeks (until March 8, 2013) to change our constitution or be de-affiliated as a sanctioned club on campus.
As a movement InterVarsity has decided to refuse to comply with the requested constitution change. There are several reasons we feel compelled to stand by our leadership requirements: 1) leadership requirements are required by Scripture and are consistent with 2,000 years of church teaching; 2) our leadership standards describe necessary skill requirements for our leaders to accomplish their tasks; students who cannot affirm our core beliefs are not able to lead our group; 3) many colleges, including the Ohio State system, Florida's state university system, UT-Austin, University of Minnesota, etc. explicitly permit religious groups to use religious criteria in leadership selection; 4) we desire to have diversity and tolerance on college campuses which would enable and make room for differing viewpoints and opinions.
So though we are risking de-affiliation, InterVarsity is appealing this reading of the non-discrimination rules and pushing for a religious exemption within EO1068 for all religious clubs and organizations on CSU campuses."
Update: Our fellowship's student president and our staff team leader met with a campus administrator right before our deadline. The administrator was very gracious and positive towards our club and is going to keep IV recognized for at approximately the rest of this semester, while the appeal process continues to play out. Also, the President of IV and others from the legal team have been working hard on connecting with the Cal State School system higher ups, as well as building partnerships with other college religious organizations that can stand with us.
What You Can Do:
- Right now the most important thing you can do is pray. Pray for the Cal State School system leaders, pray for IV's President and legal team, and pray that our fellowship will grow even stronger during this mild persecution.
- In an effort to not make the situation more dramatic and polemic, please don't respond strongly to the State system, or with social media posts. There may be a time and a place for that in the future, but right now IV's national leadership is trying to gracefully solve things before it needs to get taken to that next level.
- Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns you have to me.
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