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‘Change of position wasn’t a change of heart’
InterVarsity is making “second-class citizens” out of Wayne State University students by not letting non-Christians run for leadership posts in the Christian campus organization, according to the public university.
It’s trying to get a federal judge in Michigan to dismiss the chapter’s First Amendment lawsuit for derecognizing the club, which has maintained a campus presence for more than 75 years.
Though the university reversed its decision and reinstated the Christian group after it sued, the administration is now claiming it’s not required to “subsidize” discrimination against its students by recognizing InterVarsity.
The Christian club responded last week, telling the judge that Wayne State’s motion to dismiss is “once again heavy on the invective and light on the law.”
“Wayne State allows 90 student groups to make their own rules for leaders—everyone from fraternities to the Quidditch Club,” according to Lori Windham, senior counsel for the Becket religious-liberty law firm, which is representing the students. They only want the same treatment as everyone else, she said.
The university’s motion shows that its “change of position wasn’t a change of heart,” a Becket spokesperson told The College Fix, referring to its reinstatement of the club.
Instead, it is “forcing InterVarsity to rely on fickle administrative grace instead of equal treatment as a member of the Wayne State community,” he wrote in an email: “That’s unfair and unconstitutional.” Not forced to help InterVarsity treat non-Christians like ‘second-class citizens’
The bad blood started in October when the administration ordered the club to change its constitution to stop requiring potential leaders to share its faith.InterVarsity claimed it had never faced any known objection to these requirements, that other campus clubs were free to choose only leaders who share the same mission, and that Wayne State was misapplying its own nondiscrimination policy.The club lost its campus recognition and paid more than $2,700 to reserve campus space so it could continue to hold Bible studies, a privilege granted freely to recognized groups. The club also lost its visibility on a Wayne State student organization website.Wayne State’s motion last month, and InterVarsity’s replies, shed any […]