UNC Chapel Hill Fraternity Challenges University Policy Head-On     2/24/2005
By Bethanie Swendsen

Greensboro judge gives UNC deadline to change anti-discrimination policy.

Victory is close at hand for Alpha Iota Omega, a Christian fraternity on the campus of University of North Carolina (UNC)-Chapel Hill, which last August filed a lawsuit against the university for its anti-discrimination policy that would require the group to admit nonbelievers as officers.

“It’s hard for any logical person to understand why this Christian fraternity should be forced to accept a policy that undermines its very reason for existence,” said Jordan Lorence, prosecuting attorney of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), in a press release.

On February 16, a federal judge in Greensboro ordered UNC to sign a consent decree agreeing to change the policy by February 28, 2005.

“Finally, some sanity is returning to judges’ benches and at this university a private group can determine criteria for membership. This case sets an important precedent because Christian organizations at numerous universities have been under attack for specifying that their membership be likeminded and their leaders hold to basic Biblical beliefs and behavior,” said Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, senior fellow of the Beverly LaHaye Institute.

“Other universities should note that they cannot continue to get away with targeting Christian students for discrimination. Maybe the message will even get out to the broader society that the era of stereotyping and impugning evangelicals is over.”

By UNC withholding full fraternal status from Alpha Iota Omega, the Christian fraternity is not allowed to meet on campus or to have equal access to student facilities as all other recognized campus organizations do.

The university’s integrated policy also bars other Christian student groups from limiting their membership to just Christian members.

“What we want in our consent order is for UNC to change its policies and to make it clear that the private organizations have the final say,” said Lorence, in Agape Press. “They make the final determination whether somebody actually believes what their group says or not, or if their behavior is inconsistent or not with what the group is advocating -- and not the government.”

Another major concern of that the next generation of young people will think it is okay to force private organizations to accept people of different beliefs against their will.

Even Rep. Walter Jones* (R-North Carolina) accused UNC of singling out Christian young people on the grounds of discrimination. UNC still argues that the policy exists to prevent groups from discriminatory action, not promote it.

Numerous cases across the country have been reported where university officials have sought to require Christian organizations to agree to policies similar to those at UNC- Chapel Hill. Concerned Women for America will continue to keep you informed of these assaults on religious freedom.

* Rep. Walter Jones sponsors the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act, which Concerned Women for America heartily supports. For more information, click here.

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