University of Iowa. ST. LOUIS (BP) – Southern Baptist leaders commended the latest court victory for a student faith group that was removed from a state university campus for requiring its leaders to be Christians. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled July 16 that the University of Iowa violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in exercising “viewpoint discrimination” against the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapter on its campus. The university action in deregistering InterVarsity was “clearly unconstitutional,” a three-judge panel of the St. Louis-based appeals court said in a unanimous decision. The opinion marked the third time in the last four months a court has ruled in favor of a student ministry that had been kicked off campus. On March 22, the Eighth Circuit Court ruled administrators at the University of Iowa were personally liable for violating the free speech and expressive-association rights of Business Leaders in Christ. A federal judge in Michigan decided in an April 5 opinion Wayne State University in Detroit violated the First Amendment rights of an InterVarsity chapter by revoking its status as a religious student organization. “This decision sends a clear message to other university, college and high school administrators that […]
