Another Christian club is suing a public New York college for refusing to allow the student organization to require that its leaders be practicing Christians.
Campus Bible Fellowship (CBF) filed the lawsuit last week in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, Binghamton Division, against officials with State University of New York’s Broome Community College (SUNY Broome).
At issue is SUNY Broome’s antidiscrimination policy, which prohibits CBF and at least one other Christian club from requiring student organization leaders to be professing Christians.
“SUNY Broome refuses to officially recognize CBF as a student club, preventing it from reserving campus space and accessing financial resources,” reads the complaint.
The lawsuit accuses the college of violating CBF’s First Amendment rights, saying “other student clubs at SUNY Broome” are allowed to “limit their leadership positions and/or membership rights to select students.”
CBF is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative legal group that has successfully argued First Amendment cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations are free to select faithful leaders,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer, in a statement released Tuesday.
“But SUNY Broome’s policy undermines that right by seeking to control a fundamental aspect of CBF’s governance, doctrine, and faith. Forcing CBF to accept leaders who don’t share their religious beliefs fundamentally alters their religious expression.”
The new filing follows another lawsuit against SUNY Broome’s antidiscrimination policy filed by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.
“In the past fifteen years, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that religious organizations have a fundamental First Amendment right to freely select religious leaders without state interference,” the InterVarsity lawsuit reads.
“SUNY Broome’s actions here not only interfere but also seek to control a core component of InterVarsity’s governance, faith, and doctrine. And in the past decade, the Supreme Court has warned governments three times that they cannot deny religious organizations access to benefits because of their religious beliefs.”
InterVarsity’s Broome chapter is represented by the Becket Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based legal group that has won multiple high-profile religious liberty cases over the years.
“InterVarsity exists to help students know Jesus, grow in their faith, and build friendships that will last a lifetime,” Jake Sonner of InterVarsity Broome said in a statement last month.
“Everyone is welcome. You don’t have to be a Christian to walk through our door. We just ask that students who lead our prayers and worship actually share the faith they are helping others live out. A public college shouldn’t exclude us for that.”
The Broome case is the third time in the past several years that an InterVarsity club has been excluded from a public college for its leadership policy, joining Wayne State University in Michigan and the University of Iowa. After litigation, federal courts sided with the student groups.
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