Southern Ill. Settles With Christian Group

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale has reached a settlement with a campus Christian group that had lost official recognition because it required members to abide by its Christian beliefs.

Under the terms of the settlement, the university will now officially recognize the Christian Legal Society as a student organization at its law school. Southern Illinois also agreed to pay for the group’s legal costs and will set up a $10,000 scholarship that will be controlled by the society.

“This sends a message to public universities that you cannot require a religious student organization to give away its ability to make sure its members and officers agree with the organization’s beliefs in order to be recognized,” said Michael C. Mattox, a lawyer with the society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom, in Springfield, Va.

Southern Illinois had withdrawn official recognition of the campus chapter because, it argued, the student group violated the university’s antidiscrimination policy. The society insists that members abide by its Christian beliefs on sexuality, which forbid premarital sex and homosexuality. While students with different views may attend meetings, they may not become members or officers of the chapter.

The society, which has chapters at scores of law schools around the country, sued the university in federal court in 2005.

Last year the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that there was a likelihood that the university had “impermissibly infringed” on the group’s “right of expressive association.”

Officials at Southern Illinois did not respond to a request for comment.

http://chronicle.com Section: Students Volume 53, Issue 39, Page A28