Christianity Today

More universities say InterVarsity must allow non-Christian leaders
Less than two weeks ago, Weblog noted that Harvard University was withholding a grant to the Harvard-Radcliffe Christian Fellowship because the group required that its leaders be Christians. Such a policy, the school's Undergraduate Council said, violated anti-discrimination policies. At the time, Weblog said the case was odd. It's already time to rescind that.

Papers today report that Rutgers University and the University of North Carolina have also taken steps to remove official recognition and funding from their InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapters for the same reason—only Christians may lead the Christian organization.

"Your group does not allow full participation 'without regard to … religion  … ' as mandated by our Application for Official University Recognition," Jonathan E. Curtis, UNC-Chapel Hill's assistant director for student activities and organizations wrote to the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in a December 10 letter. "Consequently I am writing to notify you that you will need to modify the wording of your charter, or I will have no choice but to revoke your University recognition." Curtis gave the group until January 31 to do so, and reportedly gave the same ultimatum to two other Christian groups on campus

Rutgers University removed official recognition from the InterVarsity Multi-Ethnic Christian Fellowship as a "registered student organization" in September. Yesterday, the group sued the school.

"How can we ensure the group has a Christian mission without some assurance the leaders are Christian?" said David French, attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which filed the lawsuit (with support from the ...

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