Columbus Dispatch: Student leaders wants OSU to stop allowing campus religious groups to ban gays

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OSU to weigh conflicting rights

It rethinks letting student clubs ban gays, nonbelievers

Tuesday, January 18, 2011 02:50 AM

By Encarnacion Pyle

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Student-government leaders want Ohio State University to stop allowing campus religious groups to ban gay people, non-Christians or others who don't share their values.

This week, an advisory council that includes representatives of the undergraduate, professional and graduate student governments will ask Javaune Adams-Gaston, vice president for Student Life, to drop an exemption that allows certain groups to deny membership to those who don't share their "sincerely held religious beliefs."

Groups that are officially registered receive a portion of the $25-per-quarter activity fee that all students pay. The groups also enjoy nonmonetary benefits, such as being able to use the OSU name.

The Council on Student Affairs voted last week to recommend changes to OSU's student-organization registration guidelines.

"It's the general feeling among most students that Ohio State should not tolerate discrimination of any kind," said Micah Kamrass, president of the Undergraduate Student Government.

Kamrass said he thinks that religious groups don't have to compromise beliefs to be open to everyone and that many don't use the exemption.

OSU officials think that about 20 of the 100 religious or spiritual organizations use the exemption. Ohio State doesn't have an exact figure because groups aren't required to ask permission to use the "carve-out." The university reviews the constitutions of newly formed groups each year, but officials tried to get a "snapshot" of those using the exemption last summer, said Matt Couch, associate director of the Ohio Union.

Some legal scholars say a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last summer opened the door for colleges to apply anti-discrimination policies to religious groups seeking recognition or funds as campus groups. In the divided decision, the Supreme Court upheld a California law school's refusal to recognize a Christian student group that banned gays.

In 2003, a gay-rights legal organization at Ohio State charged that the Christian Legal Society was violating the university's nondiscrimination policy, which required student groups to allow anyone to join regardless of age, race, sexual orientation or a variety of other factors.

The local Christian Legal Society chapter had aligned its rules with the group's national constitution, which said members must believe in Jesus and could not be leaders if they practiced "immoral acts of fornication, adultery and homosexual conduct."

In 2004, after the Christian Legal Society filed a federal lawsuit, Ohio State changed its policy to allow student religious organizations to exclude people who don't share their beliefs.

Caitlyn Nestleroth, president of OSU's Christian Legal Society chapter, said she thinks the Supreme Court decision is narrow and affects only the University of California's Hastings College of the Law, in San Francisco.

Nestleroth said her chapter doesn't use the exemption to discriminate. "Just the opposite: Our meetings and events are open to anyone who wishes to attend, regardless of religious beliefs or lack thereof, because if we serve as witnesses through our organization, then we are truly fulfilling our mission as Christians."

She said the organization is committed to the principles of diversity but is led by a "group of believers."

Forcing the group to allow anyone to lead would be like forcing "College Democrats to accept Republican members or allowing a carnivore to lead a group of vegetarians," Nestleroth said.

Campus officials said the issue is complex and emotionally charged. They said Adams-Gaston will take her time in deciding.

The earliest a change would take effect is the next school year, said Ruth Gerstner, a Student Life spokeswoman. New groups can start registering for the next school year on May 1, which means Adams-Gaston probably would have to decide by then for a change to be in place for the fall, student-government leaders said.

"The Council of Student Affairs' recommendation is one of many pieces of advice that she will take under consideration," Gerstner said. "It is not a final step or an imperative to make a decision."