Last year, Alpha Iota Omega, a Christian student fraternity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was denied formal university funding and recognition when its members insisted that they had the right to require all members to be Christians. UNC contended that this was discriminatory; AIO contended that this was freedom of association guaranteed by the First Amendment. This summer, FIRE took up AIO's case, urging UNC Chancellor James Moeser to acknowledge the university's mistake and to honor AIO's bid for formal recognition. Moeser denied that a mistake had been made, arguing that the Fourteenth Amendment trumps the First Amendment in cases such as this one. FIRE issued a public rebuttal, which UNC proceeded to ignore.

Often in cases like this one, that's the end of it: The school that is violating students' rights rides out a little bad publicity and then returns to business as usual, without acknowledging wrongdoing or altering its handling of the case in question. There are all too many cases of this sort in FIRE's own case archive. But this case is not going to disappear so easily: Today, AIO filed a federal lawsuit against UNC.

At my first reading of this, I was convinced it was another case of diversity being squelched in the name of diversity. (Ironically, that word "diversity" is overused - I apologize). Now I wonder if university funds, especially those at a public university should be used to support groups that do not let anyone join. I believe that the university should recognize the group, but should they financially support it? Tuition is high enough without it contributing to the budget of any group that wants recognition.

Of course, the best solution would be not giving money to any student organizations at all: allow them to be completely private and sink or swim on their own ability to fund-raise.

Andy:

How does that differ from a frat that only allows certain people to join. You just can't walk up to the frat house and say I want to be a member.

The difference is that a frat cannot require you to be white in order to get in. (or any 1 race, ethnicity etc.)

School funds should not go to groups that exclude certain 'types' of people.

Christianity is not a 'type' of person. It isn't something you are born with, like race. This is one of the major fallacies of claiming 'religious discrimination'. There are many fraternities out there centered on a central interest: math fraternities, engineering fraternities, etc. These are considered to be open to everyone because anyone may choose to study these subjects and therefore be eligible for membership in the frat. Likewise the choice to be a Christian is open to all; therefore all are capable of being eligible for membership.

Whether or not school funds should be used for student organizations in general is an altogether different question. The important thing is not to discriminate against a student organization simply because of its religious beliefs.

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