Table of Contents
‘UNC Chapel Hill Tries to Spin Away a Major Defeat’
The Clarion Call, the online newsletter of has published an Samantha and I wrote about UNC Chapel Hill’s anemic attempt to spin the dismissal of a Christian fraternity’s suit against them as a victory. Some of you may remember FIREhad not one but two cases at UNC Chapel Hill in less than two years, in which the university attempted to force Christian groups to sign a statement that they would not “discriminate” on the basis of religion. As we point out:
[C]onstitutionally protected freedom of association is meaningless if a group cannot exclude people who do not share the beliefs of the group. This is both basic common sense and clearly established law. The College Democrats can exclude Republicans, the college environmental club can exclude students who hate environmentalism, and the college chess club can exclude members who hate the game and wish to see it abolished. In other words, if you form a group in order to express commonly held ideas or ideals, of course you can exclude those who disagree.
Alpha Iota Omega (AIO), the Christian fraternity at issue in the most recent case, is an evangelical organization established for the very purpose of spreading their faith. We write, “How exactly could someone who did not share the faith of AIO help spread the beliefs of AIO? You make a poor Christian evangelical if you show up at someone’s house saying ‘while I don’t actually believe in the divinity of Christ, I think you should convert to Christianity.’”
The case was dismissed after the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit, a court concluded the policy’s application to AIO was likely highly unconstitutional, UNC rewrote its policy and recognized the Christian group. We conclude:
UNC can spin this case however it wants, but the facts are not on its side. The university wasted countless hours and taxpayer dollars in a failed attempt to exclude a Christian group that only wanted to maintain its Christian identity, and then had to change its policies and recognize the group. It lost in its attempt to tell the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship it could not limit its leadership to Christians back in 2002 (an effort also apparently spearheaded by UNC administrator Jonathan Curtis), and it lost in its attempt to tell AIO it had to admit non-Christians this time around. No matter how it spins, the score is freedom of association at UNC-Chapel Hill: 2, UNC-Chapel Hill and administrators: zero.
Recent Articles
Get the latest free speech news and analysis from ֭.
FIREstatement on UT-Dallas student newspaper distribution
Freedom of the press isn’t a courtesy — it’s a constitutional right. UT Dallas can try to shut down a newspaper, but they can’t stop the news.
VICTORY! University of North Texas system lifts drag ‘pause’ after ֭/ACLU of TX letter
The University of North Texas system confirmed that it has lifted its “pause” on drag performances across its campuses.
How sure are you?
֭’s summer interns discovered that certainty isn’t just a matter of math or metaphysics, but a test of humility — and one that cuts to the core of free speech.
Fifth Circuit: First Amendment protects drag show from campus censors
The Fifth Circuit just told West Texas A&M: students' abilities to express themselves shouldn’t be subject to the whims of college administrators.