U.S. Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Tim Scott (R-SC), along with Congressman Tim Walberg (R-MI), today introduced the Equal Campus Access Act, which is aimed at making university campuses a place where all religious student groups are treated fairly. The bill would prevent universities from discriminating against religious student groups, including those that require their leaders to agree with their religious beliefs. For years, universities have targeted an array of religious student groups—including Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, and other faiths—for exclusion from campus.
One third of the states have passed laws protecting religious student groups, which has created helpful but uneven protections from campus to campus; however, the Equal Campus Access Act is a national solution.
Christian Legal Society (CLS) recently submitted a letter to Congress co-signed by more than 45 organizations from various faiths all supporting the proposed bill.
While recent events have shined a light on university campuses, misconduct toward disfavored religious student groups has been a problem for more than 50 years, with those groups being excluded from campuses nationwide because of their religious beliefs.
Religious student groups provide critical support for college students of all faiths. They create belonging, community, and safety. They foster authentic expressions of religious life and contribute to campus diversity.
CLS, the nation’s oldest and largest ministry of Christian attorneys and law students, has been representing or advocating for students in these situations for 50 years and understands how persistent universities have been in finding ways to exclude groups with different beliefs. CLS itself has chapters in law schools across the nation.
With an array of diverse faiths backing this Act, religious freedom will get a much needed boost on some of the most hostile places for religious speech and association—our universities.
