Christian groups at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tn., were under attack back in Dec. 2010 for discrimination against membership policies for college groups. On Jan. 31st, 2012, a community forum was held where students were able to discuss their feelings about a nondiscrimination policy the university set in motion.
An unidentified member of the Christian Fraternity Beta Upsilon Chi, Brothers Under Christ, was asked to leave the group for being openly gay.
The Vanderbilt administration has established an All Comers policy after the former member filed a discrimination complaint, stating that student groups cannot require a leader or member to hold specific beliefs or make them conduct Bible studies.
The Vanderbilt College Republicans created a website called vanderbiltreligiousfreedom.com to, “Help restore religious liberty at Vanderbilt University!” Their goal is to put an end to this All Comers policy and to show people how unfair it is. Their names were not added to the video they created.
“With this policy, Vanderbilt is going somewhere where no other university has gone before,” said one of the Republicans in their video.
In the video, students make points about how America has made great strides toward religious freedom throughout history. One of the Republican students claimed that the “Non-discrimination policy threatens to destroy the integrity of our religious organizations.”
Why is the administration refusing to let religious groups choose leaders based on their faith? The popular question resonating throughout the video posted by the College Republicans is, “What are they thinking?” Students are confused as to what authority they have over their own college groups.
The All Comers policy applies to all groups with no exception; meaning fraternities, sororities, sports teams, honor societies, etc.
“If a group cannot pick their own leader, or president, then who will choose?” said Alex Fozzard, a UT freshman biology major.
I do not completely understand where the power now lies to choose leaders. That responsibility still lies with the students, but what real say do they have if they cannot have standards to base their decisions on? The groups say they’re open to having any student as a member, but want an exemption for the religious leaders, stating that the leaders should have specific beliefs. œIt is not discrimination to have a basis of qualifications to set for group members and leaders.
“As long as they have the well-being of others in the group in mind, it should not matter what sexual orientation that person is,” said freshman entrepreneurship major Shaquille Campbell.
“It is a Christian organization,” said Bryce Thomas, a junior majoring in marketing in exercise science. “If you’re going to be a part of a Christian group and the leader does not share the same beliefs, the group is crippled.”
What stemmed from a gay man being shunned by a Christian fraternity has now become a fight for freedom of choice. How can members of a group be expected to tolerate this when their right to choose a leader based on religious beliefs is gone?
Reem Yousif, a sophomore finance major, said, “I would support him stepping down because he should abide by the rules [of the group] and not do something so controversial.”
Students at Vanderbilt are fighting for their constitutional rights to assemble and practice religion freely. Students are blaming the heads of the school, Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos and General Counsel David Williams.
The very first video on vanderbiltreligiousfreedom.com states that these two men are paid $5 million plus a year and their actions are hurting the university by taking away students’ constitutional rights.
Chris Godfrey is the National Advisor of Beta Upsilon Chi. In a post to the Connecticut Political Reporter on Jan. 30, 2012 Godfrey said, “The Chancellor at the university, Nicholas Zeppos, sent out an e-mail two weeks ago informing the student body about a new non-discrimination policy that will undermine the integrity of many student religious organizations. This issue deals with our First Constitutional Right, Freedom of Religion, Press, and Expression.
He says in his e-mail that ‘I want to assure you the university does not seek to limit anyone’s freedom to practice his or her religion. We do, however, require all Vanderbilt registered student organizations to observe our nondiscrimination policy. That means membership in registered student organizations is open to everyone and that everyone, if desired, has the opportunity to seek leadership positions.’”
At an open Board of Trust meeting Feb. 10, 2012, at 7:30 a.m., all students were asked to come out, ask questions and stand against this policy in support of the college groups’ rights.
“Why is administration asking us to take a leap of faith when they are really asking us to deny our faith?” one of the College Republicans at Vanderbilt asked.
In addition to that, UT’s Campbell said, “By asking someone to step down from a religious group based on their sexual orientation goes against religion because no one should judge but God.”
“They chose him in the first place.” Karla Capeles, a freshman pre-med chemistry major said. “They do not have a good enough reason to turn him away.”
In general, I feel this generation has been brought up to accept all people and be tolerant of all sexual orientations, races and religions.
Multiple groups form because of specific differences in what they believe in. For this reason, I do not see many people being left out of organizations because there is always another one a person can fit into.
That said, the president of a Christian group is not a pastor, but Bible studies and small groups need someone to move the conversation along and to interpret and explain, as does every religious group.
Arguing for college groups in general, the choice of who will lead belongs to the members in the organization. The All Comers Policy disallows members to make judgments as to who will represent the group.
To me, this entirely discredits what it means to be a student led organization.
Students at Vanderbilt are taking this opportunity to stand against discrimination while invoking it against this man who came out. This sticky situation is being seen as a chance to stand for all religious groups.
Any leader needs to be a model and an informant for the rest of the members. A difference of beliefs or morals puts a wall between those people affiliated together.
The students at Vanderbilt simply want to raise awareness for their right to practice religion freely. They want to take advantage of their constitutional human rights. Instead, they are being told they are violating the discrimination policy because they acknowledge differences of beliefs.
I am sure the man asked to leave the group feels victimized and hurt by his own brothers. Being understood can often be taken for granted, until an individual is actually victimized, especially by those considered ‘brothers.’ Beliefs are hard to stand by but having faith in something can be more rewarding than understanding every little thing.
Anna Westerholm can be reached at anna.westerholm@spartans.ut.edu.