Cox files brief in student group free association case

Attorney General Mike Cox has filed a brief, along with 13 other state attorneys general, in a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court called Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. The case involves the question of whether recognized student organizations at a publicly funded university can set their own standards for membership or whether the university can force them to include those who disagree with the founding goals and ideals of the organization based upon the school’s anti-discrimination policies.

There have been many similar suits filed over the same issue all around the country in recent years, leading to conflicting results in different circuits. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Martinez ruled in favor of the university. In an identical case also involving the Christian Legal Society, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reached the opposite conclusion and ruled in favor of the CLS, concluding that Southern Illinois University was violating their First Amendment right to free association by requiring them to admit non-Christians and homosexuals. The Supreme Court now seeks to resolve that conflict.

In a press release, Cox said:

“The Constitution protects the rights of all Americans, including students of faith and members of faith-based organizations,” said Cox. “If our college campuses are truly going to be diverse institutions they must recognize the rights of diverse student groups, including faith-based groups, to set their own membership standards.”

In 2006, the law school denied recognition to a conservative Christian student organization called the Christian Legal Society (CLS) because the group required its officers to affirm certain beliefs fundamental to the Christian faith. The federal trial court and the 9th Circuit each found in favor of the law school.

In addition to Christian organizations, other student groups are threatened by the 9th Circuit’s ruling. Attorney General Cox’s brief argues that members of student groups built on religious, political or other core beliefs have a Constitutional right to freely associate with one another and to fully participate in the university community as recognized student organizations.

Kudos to Cox on this one. The establishment and recognition of student organizations on college campuses is most aptly considered a designated public forum, as the Supreme Court ruled in Rosenberger v University of Virginia in 1995. In that case, the Court ruled that a school could not allow student groups to form and use university funds for identical purposes, then deny such recognition and funding for religious student groups.

Student organizations that are premised on the advocacy of a set of ideas should obviously be allowed to require that members of the organization share those ideas. The College Republicans should not be forced to admit non-Republicans, nor should a student environmental group be forced to admit those who do not share their goals and ideals.

The diversity that is so important on a college campus should be found not within each student organization but through a variety of student organizations, each advocating its own positions and ideas and determining their own membership standards.